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ARTICLE · 16 JUNE 2015

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The European Commission has this week added another US tech company to its list of 'investigatees': it has launched a formal antitrust investigation into Amazon, focusing on its contracts with book publishers.

European UnionAntitrust/Competition Law
John Cassels
John Cassels

The European Commission has this week added another US tech company to its list of 'investigatees': it has launched a formal antitrust investigation into Amazon, focusing on its contracts with book publishers.

Once again, most favoured customer clauses, which require publishers to inform Amazon about more favourable or alternative terms offered to Amazon competitors and to offer Amazon similar or better terms and conditions (including on price), seem to be central to the Commission's concerns.  These are the kinds of provisions which have been condemned by some EU Member State authorities in the numerous online hotel booking investigations. 

MFC clauses have also been looked at in a number of EU Commission cases, and it is clear that they can give rise to antitrust concerns in the EU:

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