Follow up on German BKA Case: Fracturing Commitments

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Have thought about this German Amazon case a bit more and there's one point I really didn't emphasise enough in my original thread. x.com/KayJebelli/status/1929508475996148222

This is a case that was already settled 2.5 years ago by the EU's Buybox investigation and commitments proceedings.

At the time, Amazon voluntarily changed its business terms and the way it operated buybox, to comply with the EC's demands, without a finding of infringement. The EC could have been overstepping, it never reached a final decision, it was never reviewed by a Court.

But Amazon voluntarily made these changes, arguably making the user experience worse for customers, to benefit certain sellers, with the promise that this would be enough to address the competition concerns and close the case.

In fact, the Commission market-tested the commitment proposals, and even required Amazon to make further changes based on this feedback.

Indeed, the Commission's commtments procedure required an explicit finding that the Commitments were both effective and proportionate, and that third-parties' rights were protected. ec.europa.eu/competition/antitrust/cases1/202310/AT_40703_8990760_1533_5.pdf

Now, two and a half years later, we have a national competition authority completely ignoring that EC decision, and finding a violation over the same conduct. The conduct hasn't changed. There's still an EC appointed monitoring trustee in place.

There's no allegation that the commitments have been violated. And yet the FCO is proceeding with a finding that competition has been harmed.

So ask yourself, why would any company ever enter into a commitments proceedings with the European Commission again? If those commitments won't resolve the conduct and any member state can still bring their own competition proceedings against the defendant?

I'm shocked that the EC isn't defending their own commitments decision, or rather, the commitments process as such.

This turns the single market on its head, it's exactly what people like @lugaricano have been talking about, when they say that the modern EC is failing at its raison d'être, where the economy is concerned. Enforcing a single market. siliconcontinent.com/p/the-myth-of-the-single-market

Policymakers and advisors in Brussels are always talking about deepening the single market, but this is a stark example of where that job has desperately fallen short. We've taken the eye off the ball. To force Amazon to advertise sellers' exorbitant prices? It's nuts.

Credit to @AuerDirk for flagging this in his excellent thread on the topic x.com/AuerDirk/status/1929555534253834667