Amazon could wrap up two EU antitrust investigations by the end of the year.
US online retail giant Amazon may wrap up two EU antitrust investigations by the end of this year after tweaking concessions to address concerns about sellers’ data usage, two people familiar with the matter said Friday.
Tackling the EU investigations means the company will avoid fines of up to 10% of its global revenue.
Faced with allegations of using its size, power and data to promote its own products to gain an unfair advantage over rival merchants who also use its platform, Amazon in July asked not to use seller data for its own competitive retail business and its private-label products.
The European Commission then sought feedback from competitors and customers and later said the company needed to improve its concessions.
One of the people said Amazon has increased the range of data it cannot use.
“It is possible that an EU decision will be made by the end of the year,” the person said.
The EU competition enforcement agency declined to comment.
When asked for comment, Amazon reiterated that it had engaged constructively with the Commission to address its concerns.
Another concession from the company is to treat sellers equally when it comes to rating their offers for “buy boxes” on the site that generates the majority of the company’s sales.
It recommended setting up a second buy box for a rival product if that product is significantly different in price and shipping from the product in the first box.
Bloomberg is the first report the possibility of an EU decision later this year.
