France fines Amazon €3.3m over 'unfair' contracts with third-party sellers

France’s consumer affairs and fraud watchdog on Wednesday announced plans to fine online retail giant Amazon 3.3 million euros over its use of third party sellers. 

Wednesday's fine against Amazon is the first time the DGCCRF has used its powers to impose penalties of up to 1 percent of a company’s global revenue “relative to the seriousness of the harm to economic order”. AFP - DENIS CHARLET

In a statement, the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF) said the fine came after Amazon failed to respect a December 2021 order to modify a “significant imbalance” in its contracts that favoured the Amazon.fr platform over third-party sellers. 

The company’s France subsidiary had been given a 22 March deadline to comply with the order, the DGCCRF said, adding the e-commerce giant would now be penalised €90,000 for every day it failed to make the required changes. 

'Fresh irregularities'

In 2019 Amazon was fined €4 million by the Paris Commercial Court over the conditions in its contracts with third-party sellers. 

The DGCCRF said the penalty had been handed down for “various unfair clauses in the contracts that Amazon imposes on companies using its online marketplace”. 

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A new investigation launched in 2020 had subsequently discovered “fresh irregularities”, the watchdog added.

Wednesday's fine against Amazon marks the first time DGCCRF has used recent trade law powers to impose penalties of up to 1 percent of a company’s worldwide revenue “relative to the seriousness of the harm to economic order”.

A spokesperson for Amazon France told business daily Les Echoes it disputed DGCCRF’s allegations of wrongdoing.

(with wires)