E-commerce and antitrust: The Luxembourg Competition Authority rules out that Amazon breaches competition refusing a retailer access to its e-market platform
By the decision of 21 June 2017 handed down in the case no. 2017-C-02 Amazon Services Europe , the Luxembourg Competition Authority (LCA) has cleared Amazon Services Europe Sarl (Amazon) from the allegation that it had infringed Article 102 TFEU and the corresponding national provision, Article 5 of the Luxembourg Competition Law (LCL). The LCA took the view that the decision of Amazon to terminate the contract with a retailer giving the latter access to the on-line platforms owned by Amazon was justified and, accordingly, did not constitute an anti-competitive abusive conduct. The facts of the case X was a Germany-based retailer trading both through ‘click & mortar’ shops and in an on-line environment, being active in many e-commerce platforms including www.amazon.de . Amazon managed the on-line platform Amazon Marketplace that facilitated the matching retailers and purchasers. Typically, Amazon and retailers concluded a contract, named ‘Amazon Services Europe Busines...