The retailer advertised reductions on products on which the final sale price was ‘substantially the same’ as the pre-discount price and blocked orders from customers who had previously returned more than a certain number of purchases, the regulator said in a statement.
The regulator said the violations took place between 2019 and last 2022. The business was controlled by Swiss luxury group Richemont until 2022, when it sold a majority stake to luxury ecommerce specialist Farfetch and Dubai Mall developer Mohamed Alabbar.
Amazon gets fined USD 3.4 mln by French authorities
France’s DGCCRF announed it would fine ecommerce company Amazon USD 3.4 million for its slowness in updating contracts with third-party sellers.
In a statement, the competition, consumer, and anti-fraud office (DGCCRF) said it had already ordered the company to correct ‘a significant imbalance in contractual conditions to Amazon's benefit’ in December 2021.
Amazon blew past the 22 March 2022 deadline to comply, with this penalty corresponding to 90,000 euros per day it failed to make the changes.
The US web giant had already been fined EUR 4 million by the Paris trade court in 2019 for unfair conditions in its contracts with third-party sellers, the DGCCRF recalled. New irregularities were uncovered in a fresh probe after that judgment, it added.
DGCCRF’s methodology when applying penalties
The fine against Amazon is the first use of a new DGCCRF power allowing it to impose penalties of up to one percent of a company's worldwide revenue relative to the seriousness of the harm to economic order.
An Amazon spokesman said the company remains in disagreement with the DGCCRF on its conclusions, its decisions and the relevant penalty, and is contesting each of them in court.
