and other countries
On Wednesday, Amazon made pledges to the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority in response to the CMA's investigation into the company's alleged misuse of its prominent market role which was launched in July of this year. As oversight of Amazon amplifies in the U.S. and other nations, these commitments will aim to address the CMA's worries.
Amazon presented commitments to Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Wednesday in response to worries raised about how it treats third-party sellers. The CMA began its investigation into the US e-commerce giant more than a year ago, looking into claims it was misusing its substantial market power to give an edge to its own retail business and sellers that use its services over third-party merchants on its marketplace.
One of the commitments includes making sure Amazon does not use rivals' marketplace data to gain an advantage over other vendors. The CMA was also worried that Amazon had access to “commercially sensitive data” connected to third-party sellers that could be used to decide which products to sell and how to set prices.
The CMA has also been looking into Amazon's display of product offers in the 'Buy Box.' This area of an Amazon product page allows customers to make a one-click purchase or add the product to their basket. The CMA says it has noticed that third-party sellers were less likely to appear in the 'Buy Box' than Amazon's own products.
To address this issue, Amazon has promised to make sure all product offers are treated equally when appearing in the 'Buy Box.' It has also promised to let third-party sellers directly negotiate rates with providers of Amazon's Prime delivery service.
To make sure Amazon follows through on its commitments, the CMA is suggesting the appointment of an independent trustee, with the regulator having a "direct say" in this choice.
Amazon has made similar pledges to the European Commission in December, as EU regulators have been investigating the same issues as the CMA since 2019. At the same time, the US Federal Trade Commission is reportedly near to launching a major antitrust lawsuit against Amazon on various fronts.
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