French commercial court ordered a 4 million-euro (4.4 million-US dollar) fine against online retail giant Amazon for abusive clauses in its contracts with vendors, the country’s Finance Ministry announced on Wednesday.
Following two-year investigation by the DGCCRF consumer fraud watchdog, the court found that “dozen clauses …imposed by Amazon to its trading partners were particularly unbalanced and therefore did not comply with the rules set by the Commercial Code”, the ministry said in a statement.
It said the company was abusing its dominant position via clauses that allow it to change unilaterally its commercial conditions, or to close without explanation or notice the account of one of its sellers.
Therefore, the court ordered the company to pay a fine of 4 million euros, “the highest fine imposed so far in this type of proceedings”, the ministry added.
Under the ruling dated September 2, Amazone services Europe and Amazon France services have to change, in six months, several clauses on conditions of use of its “market places.” Otherwise, the company will have to pay a fine of 10,000 euros per day of delay.
“The state’s role is to guarantee the economic order and protect the interests of consumers…We remain fully mobilised to ensure equity between the different actors. The digital giants must respect the competition rules and pay the right tax,” Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said. (UNI)
