The European Commission has begun "a formal antitrust investigation into certain business practices by Amazon in the distribution of electronic books," the Commission announced today.
The Commission is focusing on the "most favored nation" clauses of Amazon's contracts with publishers that require publishers to notify Amazon about any better terms given Amazon competitors and offer those terms or similar alternatives. The investigation will focus initially on English- and German-language e-book markets.
"The Commission has concerns that such clauses may make it more difficult for other e-book distributors to compete with Amazon by developing new and innovative products and services," the Commission said. "The Commission will investigate whether such clauses may limit competition between different e-book distributors and may reduce choice for consumers. If confirmed, such behaviour could violate EU antitrust rules that prohibit abuses of a dominant market position and restrictive business practices."
In response, Amazon said, according to the Bookseller, "Amazon is confident that our agreements with publishers are legal and in the best interests of readers. We look forward to demonstrating this to the Commission as we cooperate fully during this process."
A year ago this month, the Börsenverein--the German book trade association--filed a complaint about several of Amazon's business practices with the German antitrust office. The Bookseller said that the complaint "attracted the attention of the EU Commission last July."
