Amazon Loses EU Court Fight Over Double Antitrust Sales Probes

Amazon.com Inc. lost its appeal of a move by European Union antitrust regulators to allow for parallel EU and Italian antitrust probes into how the e-commerce giant may have unfairly treated some sellers on its platform.

(Bloomberg) — Amazon.com Inc. lost its appeal of a move by European Union antitrust regulators to allow for parallel EU and Italian antitrust probes into how the e-commerce giant may have unfairly treated some sellers on its platform.

The EU Court of Justice, the bloc’s top tribunal, dismissed Amazon’s challenge in a final ruling that can’t be appealed.

Amazon had objected to a European Commission decision to allow Italy to continue to run its own probe into the “buy box” — where Amazon highlights sellers of a particular product — after the EU’s antitrust arm started to examine the same issue.

Amazon last year settled the EU probe by offering a number of remedies, including a pledge to address concerns about the way its Buy Box for showcasing specific offers and Prime unduly favored its own retail business, including a promise to display a second Buy Box immediately underneath the first one. 

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