Germany’s competition agency, the Federal Cartel Office, said today it has invoked a new law that gives regulators more power over large technology companies to investigate possible “anti-competitive behavior” by e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc.
Andreas Mundt, director of the Federal Cartel Office, said the agency is investigating whether Amazon has a “virtually unchallengeable position of economic power” and whether it “operates across different The Federal Cartel Office is investigating whether Amazon has a “virtually unchallengeable position of economic power” and whether it “operates across different markets.
Mundt said that if this is the case, Amazon will be considered a company with “significant influence” and the Federal Cartel Office may “take early action in response to prohibit Amazon’s possible anti-competitive behavior.
He also said, “This could apply to Amazon’s online marketplace and many other products, especially digital products.”
The Federal Cartel Office said that under the amendments to competition law passed in Germany in January, the authorities now have more power to “intervene earlier and more efficiently” with large technology companies, rather than simply offering penalties because they have abused their dominant market position.
Before the German reform, the European Union last December published a new draft regulation aimed at curbing the power of Internet giants, which could completely overturn the way U.S. Silicon Valley technology companies operate in the EU.
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