Spain Slaps a $218M Fine on Apple and Amazon — Retail Bum

Spain’s antitrust watchdog CNMC has levied a stunning $218 million fine on U.S. tech giants Apple and Amazon for working together on limiting online sales of devices offered by Apple’s competitors in Spain.

The two companies are said to have inked an agreement on October 31, 2018, that made Amazon an authorized Apple dealer in the country. The agreement included anti-competitive clauses that impacted the availability of electronic devices from other brands in the country.

As a result, Apple has been handed out a fine of $161.2 million, while Amazon is expected to pay $56.7 million.

Both Apple and Amazon plan to appeal the ruling within the next two months, which is the mandated timeframe for filing an appeal.

“The two companies restricted without justification the number of sellers of Apple products on the Amazon website in Spain,” CNMC said.

The watchdog added that because of the anti-competition clauses in the agreement, over 90% of retailers who were previously using Amazon to sell Apple devices were blocked from doing so. In addition, Amazon limited the capability of EU sellers based outside Spain to reach customers in the country. And it also blocked Apple’s competitors from placing relevant ads on its marketplace that should have come up…