EU opens Amazon e-books probe
The European Commission launches formal antitrust case over clauses in Amazon’s contracts with publishers.
The European Commission has launched a formal antitrust investigation into whether Amazon’s contracts with e-book publishers unfairly oblige them to give Amazon equivalent or favorable terms compared with its competitors.
Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said that clauses in those contracts may have blocked rival e-book distributors from emerging.
“It is my duty to make sure that Amazon’s arrangements with publishers are not harmful to consumers, by preventing other e-book distributors from innovating and competing effectively with Amazon,” Vestager said in a statement. “Our investigation will show if such concerns are justified.”
The relevant clauses force publishers to tell Amazon when they are about to offer rival distributors “more favorable or alternative terms,” then give Amazon “the right to terms and conditions at least as good as those offered to its competitors.”
The suspicion is that Amazon used its dominant position in the market for e-books to force the terms onto the publishers. The probe relates specifically to the sale of e-books in English and German, the two European languages where Amazon is strongest.
Amazon said it was confident that its agreements with publishers are legal and in readers’ best interests. “We look forward to demonstrating this to the Commission as we cooperate fully during this process,” the company said in a statement.
European publishers, who have been critical of Amazon, reacted positively to the Commission announcement.
“The publishers association has been calling for a competition inquiry into the e-book market for some time, so today’s announcement from the Commission is a welcome development,” said Richard Mollett, chief executive of the UK’s Publishers Association.
Alexander Skipis, managing director of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association described Amazon’s business practices as “extortionate.”
The Commission is already investigating Amazon’s tax strategies in a separate case. And there may be more to come: Vestager’s department also indicated last month that Amazon would be among the web companies under scrutiny in a wider probe into the e-commerce sector.
The Commission has also opened proceedings into the e-book market before, when it investigated alleged collusion between Apple and major publishing houses.
At a briefing Thursday, however, Vestager spokesman Ricardo Cardoso said the cases were unrelated “because this one focuses on clauses that Amazon, in our view, may have pushed upon the publishers whereas the prior investigation focused on horizontal conduct.”
Cardoso also said that the Commission launched the new e-book investigation on its own initiative, rather than in response to any particular complaint.