10 million euro fine from Italy to Amazon
The Italian Competition Authority (Antitrust-AGCM) fined US-based online sales platform Amazon with 10 million euros, citing unfair commercial practices.
In the written statement made by the Competition Authority, it was pointed out that the purchasing option for many products on Amazon’s Italian website is automatically set to “recurring periodic purchasing” instead of “one-time”, and this significantly restricts consumer preferences and prevents the consumer from really needing them. It was stated that he encouraged people to buy that product even if it wasn’t available.
It was reported that the institution fined Amazon 10 million euros for this reason.
It was noted that Amazon’s subsidiaries, Luxembourg-based Amazon Services Europe and Amazon EU, were also affected by the penalty.
In the news published by the Italian ANSA agency, it was stated that Amazon intends to appeal this penalty. It was stated that the company did not agree with the decision and argued that its customers saved money thanks to the “Subscribe and save” program, which was the subject of the penalty.