Seeking to resolve two European Union antitrust probes, Amazon has offered to stop using data related to its competitors to boost its own retail business, EU regulators said on Thursday.

The EU's competition authority has accused the online giant of using the data to benefit its own retail business, to the detriment of rivals that also sell on its platform.

Amazon to treat sellers equally

With the threat of a multi-billion dollar fine hanging over the online retailer for its data collection practices, an EU statement said Amazon "commits to refrain from using non-public data relating to, or derived from, the activities of independent sellers on its marketplace."

More specifically, Amazon has offered to treat sellers equally when ranking their offers for the "buy box" on its platform, which generates a large portion of its sales.

Amazon will also insert a second buy box for a rival product if it differs considerably in price and delivery from the product in the first box.

Accusations of breaching 'EU antitrust rules by distorting competition'

In November 2020, the bloc's executive branch, the European Commission, released a statement saying it had informed Amazon of its "preliminary view" that it had "breached EU antitrust rules by distorting competition in online retail markets."

The European Commission accused Amazon of "systematically relying on non-public business data of independent sellers who sell on its marketplace, to the benefit of Amazon's own retail business, which directly competes with those third-party sellers."

Under the microscope

Last week Britain's competition watchdog — the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) — launched an investigation into whether Amazon has been abusing its dominance in the marketplace to undermine rivals.

Thursday's concessional move from Amazon is not the first time it has decided to try to stave off EU sanctions. In 2017, it scrapped some clauses in its distribution deals with European e-book publishers, leading regulators to call off their probe.

In 2019, Amazon restructured its terms of service for third-party merchants and persuaded the German antitrust agency to end its seven-month investigation.

jsi/sms (Reuters, AP, AFP)