Germany's Federal Cartel Office has ruled that Amazon may not impose price caps on independent retailers that sell through its German marketplace, and has for the first time sought to recover several million euros it says Amazon obtained by restricting seller pricing.
Andreas Mundt, president of the cartel office, said the decision rests on the premise that "Amazon competes directly with other marketplace retailers on its platform." He added that the authority views attempts to influence competitor pricing - including limits on how low sellers can price goods - as permissible only in very limited circumstances, such as clear instances of price gouging.
Because Amazon has maintained its pricing practice up to this point, the cartel office has activated a new enforcement mechanism it gained under reforms enacted in 2023. Using that authority, the regulator has initially demanded 59 million euros from the U.S. company. That sum was presented as an initial claim and the company has one month from the decision to file an appeal.
Rocco Braeuniger, the country manager for Amazon's German site, said the company intends to appeal "this unprecedented regulatory decision" and will continue normal operations while doing so. He warned that if the ruling effectively forces Amazon to accept what he termed "uncompetitive or even abusive prices in the store," the result would be a degraded shopping experience for customers.
The cartel office's action in the Amazon case follows heightened scrutiny of other e-commerce platforms. In October, the German watchdog opened an investigation into whether Temu, the Chinese online marketplace, exerts influence over third-party merchants' pricing on its platform.
For reference, the cartel office's initial 59 million euro demand equates to approximately $69.54 million using the rate cited with the decision, where $1 = 0.8484 euros.
Context and immediate consequences
The decision marks a notable enforcement step by Germany's competition authority: it not only bans a pricing practice it deems anti-competitive but also uses newly acquired powers to claim a concrete monetary recovery. Amazon's stated plan to appeal sets up a legal contest that will determine how the company may manage pricing controls on its German marketplace going forward.