Yesterday, the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) announced the opening of a file with Amazon and Apple. The reason, according to the regulator, is the existence of indications to prevent third parties from selling Apple products on the Amazon platform. The Cupertino company says it is working with the Seattle company to eliminate counterfeit products.
CNMC case opened against Amazon and Apple
The CNMC has opened disciplinary proceedings against Amazon and Apple for a possible secret agreement between the two tech giants. According to the regulator, “he had access to certain information from which one can deduce the existence of rational indications of the commission by Amazon and Apple of an infringement”. As they point out in El País, the case remains to be studied, for which there is a maximum period of 18 months between the instruction and the resolution.
The research focuses on four Amazon affiliates and the three from Apple in Europe. A few weeks ago we were talking about the numbers of two of them: Retail and Marketing. The third subsidiary is Apple Distribution International, whose corporate purpose is the purchase, sale, import, export and general marketing of all kinds of electronic and computer equipment, products and systems “.
CNMC has 18 months to investigate and reach a conclusion in this case
The problem examined is the existence of a possible agreement between the two companies to prevent other companies from being able to sell apple products on the Amazon platform. The investigation will also focus on a possible restriction of “advertising by Apple’s competitors” and “the prioritization of certain campaigns targeting Apple customers”.
Consumer safety as Apple’s priority
At first glance, it may appear that the two companies have agreed to prevent certain competitors or resellers sell their Apple products. We asked Apple about this file and replied to us as follows:
The safety of our customers is our top priority, and our teams are constantly working with law enforcement, suppliers and e-commerce sites around the world to remove counterfeit products from the market. We work with Amazon to protect our customers from counterfeit products and to give them the assurance that they are receiving an original Apple product when they open the box. We follow the law in everything we do and we will share the facts with the Spanish Competition Authority.
For the company, it is important avoid selling counterfeit products to protect end users. In addition to buying a fake product, the safety of customers is at risk. Especially if we focus on fake adapters and chargers, where a 2016 study by Underwriters Laboratories found that these accessories had a failure rate of 99%. Fake chargers like these pose a risk of fire, electric shock, and death.
To avoid counterfeiting, we must make sure that the product complies with Apple’s MFi program, as well as other certifications.
Sell counterfeit or non-counterfeit products the corresponding certifications are a crime. That’s why Apple has long focused on the damage these products can cause. He even sued some brands for selling fake chargers, after finding that 90% of those sold on Amazon were unsure. Despite this, business continues and in 2019 counterfeit accessories worth $ 900,000 were seized in South Korea.
For this reason, and for a long time, Apple has been working with Amazon to locate and remove these products from sale. As a result of this effort, it was only last year tens of thousands have been removed from Amazon, according to Apple. From Apple, they include the CNMC investigation in their initiative to remove counterfeit products and sellers.
