Italy’s antitrust watchdog said on Thursday it had fined Amazon more than 1.3 billion USD for alleged abuse of market dominance, in one of the biggest penalties imposed on a US tech giant in Europe. Amazon said it “strongly disagreed” with the Italian regulator’s decision and would appeal.

Italy’s watchdog said in a statement that Amazon had leveraged its dominant position in the Italian market for intermediation services on marketplaces to favour the adoption of its own logistics service – Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) – by sellers active on Amazon.it.

The authority said Amazon tied to the use of FBA access to a set of exclusive benefits, including the Prime label, that help increase visibility and boost sales on Amazon.it.

“Amazon prevents third-party sellers from associating the Prime label with offers not managed with FBA,” it said. The Prime label makes it easier to sell to the more than 7 million most loyal and high-spending consumers members of Amazon’s loyalty program.

The antitrust authority also said it would impose corrective steps that will be subject to review by a monitoring trustee.

Amazon said FBA “is a completely optional service” and that the majority of third-party sellers on Amazon do not use it.

Source: VOV5