Key EU lawmaker's plan to rein in online marketplaces a threat to Amazon
Exclusive: Key EU lawmaker's plan to rein in online
marketplaces a threat to Amazon
By Foo Yun Chee OCTOBER 12, 2018 / 10:27 AM
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Amazon could face a threat other
than just EU antitrust scrutiny after a key EU lawmaker announced proposals
aimed at curbing online marketplaces’ use of merchants’ data to boost sales of
own brand products.
Seeking to ensure a level playing field between tech
giants such as Google, Amazon and Apple and traditional businesses, the
European Commission in April outlined draft rules to prevent unfair business
practices.
The proposal specifically targets app stores, search
engines, e-commerce sites and hotel booking websites.
European Parliament lawmakers, whose approval is needed
to ensure the proposal becomes legislation and under pressure to be seen as
consumer-friendly ahead of elections in May, have since come up with about 680
amendments to beef up the draft.
Key among these is the one proposed last week by Danish
center-left lawmaker Christel Schaldemose, the lead parliament negotiator,
which takes aim at a case her compatriot, European Competition Commissioner
Margrethe Vestager, is looking into.
Schaldemose has proposed setting up Chinese walls between
subsidiaries, according to a draft seen by Reuters. She aims to get her
committee to vote on the amendments on Dec. 6.
Vestager last month said she was gathering information on
whether Amazon uses merchants’ data in a way that hurts competition. Her power
lies in her ability to impose fines while Schaldemose’s proposal, if accepted,
would be more far-reaching as it would apply to all companies regardless of
their market power.
In her amendment, Schaldemose referred to investigations
by antitrust regulators in the European Union and elsewhere into online
intermediation services’ dual role as a marketplace and as a rival on the same
platform.
“To ensure fairness, the provider of the online
intermediation service should not be allowed to disclose the data generated by
the transactions of a business user to third parties for commercial purposes,
including within their own corporate structure, without the consent of the
business user,” the draft said.
Lawmakers also want the rules to cover voice assistance
services or virtual helpers such as Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri and Google
Assistant because of their increasing popularity.
After the committee vote, Schaldemose would then seek
approval at the assembly a week later. EU lawmakers would then need to thrash
out a common position with the Commission and EU countries before the proposals
become law.
Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by David Evans
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