Reuters: Technology News: Amazon's third-party deals must change, German watchdog says: paper

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Amazon's third-party deals must change, German watchdog says: paper Oct 20th 2013, 17:13 Tweet Share this Email Print Reprints A zoomed image of a computer screen showing the Amazon logo is seen in Vienna November 26, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Heinz-Peter Bader FRANKFURT | Sun Oct 20, 2013 1:13pm EDT FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany's antitrust watchdog accused Amazon of undermining competition when dealing with third-party merchants and said it would impose reform unless the Internet retailer changed its rules, a German newspaper reported. "Luckily, we have instruments of torture, which we will use if necessary," Andreas Mundt, the president of the German cartel office, was quoted as telling daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung. A struggle with competition authorities in its second-largest market after the United States would add to Amazon's woes. Its German operations have been rattled by a dispute over employees' pay and a trade union has warned that staff could strike during the Christmas holiday season. "The terms of Amazon's Marketplace in effect obstruct competition," Mundt said, according to a pre-release on Sunday of the newspaper's Monday edition. "We are in talks with Amazon to eliminate these impediments to competition...If necessary, we will issue a crystal clear decree." Separately, Amazon has been criticized over its tax payments and leading policy makers have called for a new German government to crack down on tax avoidance by multinational firms without waiting for its European partners to act. At the heart of the watchdog's complaints about Amazon's Marketplace is a requirement that third-party merchants must offer their cheapest price when selling their products over the platform. Amazon was not immediately available for comment. (Reporting by Arno Schuetze; Editing by David Cowell) Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

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