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Amazon faces EU antitrust probe over use of merchant data

Amazon , the world’s largest online retailer, could face an EU antitrust investigation within days over its use of merchants’ data, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The European Commission has been seeking feedback from retailers and manufacturers since September last year, one of several competition enforcers taking a deeper look into Amazon’s business practices amidst calls by some for its break-up.

European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has said the issue is about a company hosting merchants on its site and at the same time competing with those same retailers by using their data for its own sales.

Merchants have complained about harm caused by Amazon copies of their products.

Politico first reported the investigation last week.

The Commission had been struggling to define the market in which Amazon operates in order to identify where the competitive harm could have been, other sources said. They said the issue was whether to look at Amazon in the overall retail market or in its own niche.

The EU competition enforcer, which can fine companies up to 10 percent of their global turnover, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This would not be Amazon’s first run-in with the Commission. Two years ago, it was told to pay back taxes of about 250 million euros (226 million pounds) to Luxembourg because of illegal tax benefits. That same year it settled with the regulator over its distribution deals with e-book publishers in Europe.

Separately, Amazon reached a deal with Germany’s antitrust authority on Wednesday to overhaul its terms of service for third-party merchants, who had complained of unfair treatment when selling through the world’s biggest online retailer.

 

Read More – www.msn.com

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No-deal Brexit could hit food supplies

A no-deal Brexit could affect food supplies and see traders bypass Great Britain, the ferry firm Stena Line has warned.

There is “very little readiness” at ports and “anxiety is high”, said Ian Hampton senior executive at the global ferry operator.

Stena is the largest ferry operator in the Irish sea and owns three UK ports.

The government said it had proposed an ambitious future relationship with the EU to keep trade flowing.

Mr Hampton said there was a possibility Stena Line would reduce services to and from the UK as a result of Brexit.

“We can’t plan on the basis of what we don’t know, so we’re very anxious about the outcome,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme.

He warned traders could stop using Great Britain to get from Ireland and Northern Ireland to the rest of the EU, and instead sail direct to the continent.

A no-deal Brexit that created friction on the Northern Ireland border, or delays if extra checks were put in place between Great Britain and Northern Ireland to implement what’s become known as a Brexit backstop, could have a significant impact on trade flows, he said.

‘Huge concerns’

Asked if added friction at borders could result in fewer Stena Line sailings to and from UK ports, he said that while the firm did not want to move routes “this could be one of the implications”.

He called for clarity from the government about what trade declarations would be necessary in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Without it, he said, delays at ports could affect whether food got to supermarket shelves on time.

Mr Hampton, chief people and communications officer at Stena Line, was also worried about whether a new computer system to handle customs declarations – known as CDS – or its predecessor, could cope with a sharp increase in volumes following a no-deal Brexit.

“We’re concerned about that,” he said. “I’m not sure it can. This is a system that was not written for the purpose we’re now asking of it and I think that would [create] huge concerns.”

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Stena operates three UK ports, Holyhead, Fishguard and Cairnryan, and carries more than seven million passengers and two million units of freight to and from the UK each year.

A government spokesman said it was engaging with ports, and senior officials had visited those owned by Stena Line.

“It is crucial to keep trade flowing when we leave the EU,” the spokesman said.

“That is why we are proposing a pragmatic and ambitious future economic relationship with the EU, and we remain committed to reaching agreement on the Withdrawal Agreement and future framework this autumn.”

 

Read More – www.bbc.co.uk