European Union flags fly outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, February 19, 2020. Picture taken February 19, 2020. — Reuters pic
BRUSSELS, Nov 10 — European Parliament and EU governments’ negotiators agreed today the details of the EU’s 2021-2027 budget, clearing a crucial step for the activation of the bloc’s €1.8 trillion (RM8.7 trillion) recovery package to make the economy greener and more digital.
“A deal for Europe — Council and European Parliament negotiators reach political agreement on the EU budget & recovery package,” the spokesman for the German presidency of the EU Sebastian Fischer said on Twitter, adding the agreement still needed formal endorsement.
The deal, which took almost four months to negotiate, makes clear that governments can only get EU money if they observe the rule of law — a condition Poland and Hungary have opposed because they are under EU scrutiny for undermining the independence of the judiciary.
It raises EU spending in the 1.1 trillion budget on health, education and security by €16 billion compared to the original agreement of EU leaders from July.
It also establishes new, dedicated revenues for EU coffers so the bloc can repay the €750 billion +it plans to borrow to help the recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic.
“By 2026, we will have a basket of new revenues that should be sufficient to cover the cost of the Recovery Fund’s debt with the aim of not having cuts in funds and programmes,” one of the parliamentary negotiators Jose Manuel Fernandes said.
Over the next weeks, talks between EU lawmakers and governments will continue on the details of the €750 billion borrowing, of which €672.5 billion is to be distributed among governments as loans and grants on the basis of their national recovery plans listing various projects and reforms.
The parliament wants more of that money to be paid out up front, before the projects reach agreed milestones and targets, and more of the cash to be earmarked for projects that help reduce CO2 emissions.
Lawmakers also want the cash, for which governments can apply through national recovery programmes, to be available longer — four years instead of three.
Once governments and parliament have an agreement on that, the deal can be ratified by national parliaments in the EU’s 27 countries and the money is to start flowing in the second half of next year.
“The budget, the Recovery Fund, new revenues and the rule of law conditionality are one package for us,” said Siegfried Mursan, a senior MEP responsible for budgetary issues.
“Parliament will ratify today’s deal only if Member States stick to all parts of the agreement,” he said. — Reuters
Hubballi: Tipu had handed over his two children to Britishers as hostages in the interest of his state and the nation as well and was treating all religious persons equally, said Altaf Hallur, president, Hubballi-Dharwad City District Congress Committee. Speaking at the 270th birth anniversary of Tipu Sultan, Hallur said Tipu was a pioneer in adopting advanced technology in administration, particularly in the defence sector. “His life is the best lesson to teach to the next generation,” he added. Former KPCC secretary Mohan Asundi expressed regret over the state government’s move of not celebrating Tipu’s birth anniversary. Another leader Basavaraj Malakari noted that Tipu had great respect for Hindu religion and temples. “However, BJP, a communal party, is trying to present Tipu as anti-Hindu. Chief minister BS Yediyurappa utilised Tipu to woo Muslims when he floated Karnataka Janata Party but is now terming Tipu as anti-Hindu,” he added. Office bearers Dasharath Wali, Altafnawaz Kittur, Navid Mulla, Rafiq Dargad and others were present.
BIC GENEVA — The Geneva Office of the Bahá’í International Community (BIC) has joined with civil society actors, academics, and representatives of UN agencies and international organizations to contribute to discussions on peace-building initiatives around the world at Geneva Peace Week, which concluded last Friday.
“Peace is one of the greatest concerns of humanity today,” says Simin Fahandej, a representative of the Geneva Office. “Although there is a long road ahead, there are constructive forces moving humanity toward greater collective maturity. By bringing together different actors, Peace Week provides an important international forum for the exchange of ideas, particularly at a time when many of the challenges to peace have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
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The Geneva Office’s contributions to discussions focused on the critical need for strengthening systems of global cooperation, drawing on the BIC’s recent statement “A Governance Befitting.” In a seminar held by the Office last week, three members of the Bahá’í community with expertise in the fields of governance, economics, and the environment explored some of the implications of the BIC statement and its call for a “global civic ethic.”
Arthur Lyon Dahl, president of the International Environment Forum, observes how the BIC statement draws attention to need for strengthening legal frameworks relating to the environment. “Too much of the present global system of environmental governance is voluntary. The best efforts of some are neutralized if not reversed by the contrary actions of others driven by national or economic self-interest.
“The environmental crisis is pushing us to an acknowledgement of our global interdependence as we see that the welfare of any segment of humanity is inextricably bound up with the welfare of the whole.”
Slideshow 7 imagesA session at Geneva Peace Week in 2019. Since 2014, the annual event has gathered civil society actors, academics, experts and officials to learn about peace-building initiatives around the world.
Augusto Lopez-Claros, executive director of the Global Governance Forum, says the statement “speaks about possibilities that crisis often open up for marked social change.
“One of the things that has struck me is … the kind of rethinking that is taking place in the world today about spending priorities. I think that all of a sudden governments are realizing that the way we have allocated the resources of the state involves a lot of inefficiencies and misplaced priorities. One hears, for instance, of the need now to redefine security more in terms of social and economic welfare rather than to think of security strictly in militaristic terms, which is what we have tended to do at least since the UN was created in 1945.”
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Maja Groff, an international lawyer based in The Hague, Netherlands, highlights the theme of human capacity, saying of the BIC statement: “It holds a very, very positive vision for humanity, for our ability to solve global challenges. … If we, collectively, fundamentally and finally, at last accept our commonality, … if we have this clear acknowledgement of our essential unity then new possibilities will open.”
Reflecting on the discussions that took place over Peace Weak, Ms. Fahandej states: “Knowledge about the need to establish peace is not enough. As the BIC statement says, the machinery of international politics and power has to increasingly be directed toward cooperation and unity. We all need to see each other as part of the same human family. That is the imperative need of this age, of this moment.”
… in a videoconference at the European Council building in Brussels, Tuesday, Nov … . 10, 2020. European Council President Charles Michel and European …
Pope Francis continued his catechesis on prayer on Wednesday, focusing on the quality of perseverance in prayer. Jesus Himself, the Pope said, “has given an example of continual prayer, practiced perseveringly.”
The Pope notes that the Catechism of the Catholic Church sees three parables that especially highlight this characteristic of prayer. In the parable of the unexpected guest who arrives in the middle of the night, we learn that prayer must be tenacious. “Our Father knows well what we need,” the Pope says. “Insistence is necessary not to inform Him or to convince Him, but is necessary to nurture the desire and expectation in us.”
The parable of the unjust judge helps us understand “that faith is not a momentary choice, but a courageous decision to call on God, even to ‘argue with Him,’ without resigning oneself to evil and injustice.”
And in the parable of the pharisee and the publican, Jesus shows that “God does not listen to the prayer of those who are proud,” but “He does grant the prayer of the humble.” Pope Francis adds, “There is no true prayer without a spirit of humility.”
We must pray always
“The teaching of the Gospel is clear,” says Pope Francis: “We need to pray always, even when everything seems vain.” Even when it is difficult to pray, and even when it seems God is not listening, it is necessary to persevere in prayer.
“During those nights, the one who prays is never alone,” the Pope says. Jesus is always present with those who pray, welcoming us “in His prayer, so that we might pray in Him and through Him. This is the work of the Holy Spirit.” Pope Francis says this connection to the prayer of Jesus “gives the wings that the human person’s prayer has always desired to possess.”
The Christian who prays fears nothing
The Holy Father recalls the words of Psalm 91, a psalm of confidence and trust. “It is in Christ that this stupendous prayer is fulfilled, in Him that it finds its complete truth.” The Pope warns that, apart from Christ, “our prayer risks being reduced to human effort. But [Jesus] has taken upon Himself… every human prayer.”
Jesus Christ, says Pope Francis, “is everything for us, even in our prayer life.” The Pope quotes St Augustine, in a citation from the Catechism: Jesus “prays for us as our priest, prays in us as our Head, and is prayed to by us as our God. Therefore, let us acknowledge our voice in Him and His in us”. This, the Pope says, “is why the Christian who prays fears nothing.”
Boeing’s share price climbed to its highest level in months Tuesday on hopes that federal regulators could allow the troubled 737 Max to fly again in the coming weeks and because of hopeful coronavirus vaccine news.
The Federal Aviation Administration is expected to finish reviewing proposed changes to the Max “in the coming days,” Steve Dickson, the agency’s administrator said in a statement late Monday. That would clear a path for the plane to return to the skies after being grounded in March 2019 following two fatal crashes in which 346 people were killed.
But Mr. Dickson cautioned that the agency was not in a hurry to lift its order grounding the plane.
“As I have said many times before, the agency will take the time that it needs to thoroughly review the remaining work,” Mr. Dickson said. “Even though we are near the finish line, I will lift the grounding order only after our safety experts are satisfied that the aircraft meets certification standards.”
Nevertheless, Boeing’s stock was up about 4 percent on Tuesday after a larger surge on Monday following an announcement that a coronavirus vaccine being developed by Pfizer and BioNTech was more than 90 percent effective in trials, according to early data. The arrival of a vaccine is widely expected to usher in a much-needed travel recovery for the travel and aviation business. Boeing’s stock price is up about 18 percent this week and at its highest level since June.
The stock surge comes after a grueling year for the company. After sweeping layoffs, Boeing expects to start 2021 with 130,000 employees, nearly 19 percent fewer than it had at the start of this year. And, on Tuesday, the company announced that it booked no new orders for commercial airplanes in October and customers canceled 12 orders for the 737 Max. So far this year, Boeing has lost more than 1,000 orders after accounting for cancellations and the diminished likelihood that existing orders will be delivered.
Taxi drivers in Rome last week protested new lockdown rules that will cause them to lose business. The pandemic has caused a severe recession in European Union member states. Credit…Andreas Solaro/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
The European Union and its 27 member states are moving closer to deploying its landmark stimulus package worth 750 billion euros, or $890 billion, to help them out of the deep recession the pandemic is inflicting on the bloc.
On Tuesday, negotiators from the European Council, which represents the members’ national governments, and the European Parliament reached a political agreement on a number of sticking points that had put the brakes on the swift deployment of the money.
Among the issues: how the money should be spent, whether there would be extra funding for some of the Parliament’s dearest programs and whether stimulus funding should flow to members like Hungary and Poland that are ignoring bloc’s rule-of-law standards.
The stimulus package is part of the E.U.’s multiyear budget, which is always the subject of haggling and horse-trading among the various institutions that govern the bloc.
It will see member states, through the European Commission, the bloc’s executive branch, introduce large-scale joint borrowing for the first time, a significant step toward becoming a closer, more federal-type organization with pooled resources and joint debt.
But the stimulus program isn’t finalized yet: It needs to get the approval of each individual European Union government, in many cases by being ratified in national parliaments. Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, who is at loggerheads with the European Union over criticism of his handling of democratic institutions, has threatened to block the program, although experts and observers say he is bluffing.
The bloc’s leaders hope the funds will come online early next year to start plugging holes in desperately needed areas of European economies, in particular smaller or weaker ones that cannot raise their own major stimulus packages, as Germany and France have.
The economy of the European Union, the richest group of nations in the world and home to 410 million people, is expected to shrink on average by 7.4 percent this year, before staging a recovery next year. That recovery, experts and policymakers warn, is highly dependent on continued government spending and could be upended by another wave of coronavirus cases, as most of the bloc languishes in a new lockdown after a surge in infections over the fall.
An AMC movie theater in Times Square. The theater chain said guests could rent any of its approximately 600 theaters nationwide, with fees starting at $99.Credit…Angela Weiss/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
AMC Entertainment announced on Tuesday that it would offer Private Theater Rentals at AMC, which would allow people to reserve theaters for private film showings, an effort to attract customers during a pandemic that has decimated movie theaters across the country.
The offering comes after a four-week trial for the service, which drew 110,000 inquiries around the country — more than four times the number of bookings in all of 2019, without any significant marketing, the company said.
“It’s unprecedented for AMC to receive 110,000 contacts in four weeks about a private theater rental, based only on word of mouth and organic publicity, and we are excited about and appreciative of the interest this has sparked among AMC guests,” said Elizabeth Frank, executive vice president of worldwide programming and chief content officer for AMC.
AMC, the largest theater chain the United States, said guests could rent any of its approximately 600 theaters nationwide through its website and mobile app for a movie screening, with fees starting at $99. New releases are more expensive — “Tenet,” “The War With Grandpa” and “Freaky” could cost as much as $349. The rental fee includes up to 20 tickets.
Independent theater owners have also tested private rentals as a way to bring in revenue as they fight for survival.
The announcement comes as AMC teeters on the edge of bankruptcy, with many people still wary of returning to theaters in large numbers and Hollywood pushing off most major releases until next year. In October, AMC said that existing cash resources would be largely depleted by the end of 2020 or early 2021, and that the company would require additional sources of liquidity or increases in attendance levels to meet its financial obligations.
The company said that AMC would require guests to wear masks and practice social distancing in the auditorium.
The deal for Megaphone is meant to allow Spotify to more accurately match ads to the interests of specific listeners.Credit…Ritchie B Tongo/EPA, via Shutterstock
For Spotify, the future is in online audio as a whole, not just music.
That commitment came through loud and clear on Tuesday, when the company announced that it had bought Megaphone, a podcast advertising and publishing platform, for $235 million. The deal is meant to allow Spotify to more accurately match ads to the interests of specific listeners.
Spotify, based in Stockholm, has invested heavily in podcasts, signing the host Joe Rogan to a multiyear deal in May, acquiring Bill Simmons’s The Ringer in February and scooping up Gimlet Media, the studio behind “Crimetown,” last year.
The moves came after the company’s chief executive, Daniel Ek, noted in a 2019 blog post that “audio — not just music — would be the future of Spotify.”
Earlier this year, the company unveiled a technology called Streaming Ad Insertion, which allowed it to get more details on the ages, genders, device types and reactions of people listening to podcast ads. On Tuesday, the company said the same technology would not just be available to podcasts on Spotify but also to third-party podcast publishers on Megaphone, which is owned by the Graham Holdings Company in Virginia.
Spotify said that its podcast advertising revenue surged nearly 100 percent in the third quarter, compared with a year earlier. A report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PWC this summer projected that podcast advertising revenue in the United States was nearly $1 billion and would grow 14.7 percent this year.
The podcasting industry as a whole is going through a shakeup. Last month, SiriusXM completed a $325 million acquisition of the podcasting company Stitcher, which is known for podcasts such as “Freakonomics Radio” and “My Favorite Murder.” Also in October, iHeartMedia said it would buy Voxnest, a podcast services company that offers advertising and analytics tools. Wondery, the company behind “Dirty John” and “Dr. Death,” is exploring a possible sale, according to The Los Angeles Times.
Shoppers filled their carts with Beyond Meat products when the pandemic began, but sales fell in the third quarter.Credit…Steve Helber/Associated Press
Shares of Beyond Meat plunged on Tuesday after the company’s quarterly earnings report fell short of expectations and news of Mcdonald’s new plant-based products raised concerns about the companies’ relationship.
The high-flying plant-based meat company surprised investors late Monday when it reported that its third-quarter revenue had only climbed 2.7 percent from the previous year but that higher pandemic-related expenses resulted in a net loss of $19.3 million in the quarter, compared with net income of $4.1 million a year ago. The stock was down about 22 percent in early trading Tuesday.
Earlier this year, shoppers filled their carts with Beyond Meat’s faux burgers as they loaded pantries and freezers during the pandemic. But that buying slowed significantly in the third quarter, executives said. Retail revenue dropped 11.1 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier.
On top of that, investors were also nervous about the lack of details around an announcement earlier in the day from McDonald’s about McPlant, a line of new plant-based products that it plans to introduce to certain markets next year.
Earlier this year, McDonald’s ran a pilot in Canada with Beyond Meat’s products and Beyond Meat said it developed a patty for the McPlant line, but analysts noted that McDonald’s executives were a bit more vague about its suppliers for its new faux-meat products.
“We haven’t made a decision yet about how we’re going to be and which suppliers are supporting our global rollout,” Chris Kempczinski, the chief executive of McDonald’s, said In an interview Monday with CNBC.
The S&P 500 was fell slightly in early trading. It had closed on Monday within 1 percent of a record it set in early September.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose about half a percent on Tuesday, with gains for energy and financial companies. Asian markets were mixed.
In Britain, the FTSE 100 index rose 1 percent and the pound climbed 0.7 percent against the U.S. dollar and 0.9 percent against the euro. Many believe the likelihood of a Brexit agreement has increased, in part because of the election of Joseph R. Biden Jr. in the United States. The border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland remains a critical sticking point in the final Brexit negotiations, and the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, is not expected to want to pick a fight with a president-elect who often refers to his Irish heritage and has warned against a return of a hard border.
Talks with the European Union on a trade deal continued ahead of a deadline for an agreement this weekend. The gains came despite an increase in Britain’s unemployment rate to 4.8 percent, a four-year high.
Oil prices continued to climb. Futures contracts on West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, rose 1.1 percent to $40.75 a barrel. The price jumped more than 8 percent on Monday. An index of the dollar against other major currencies rose 0.2 percent. The price of gold rose 0.8 percent.
The S&P 500 is up more than 8 percent in November, a rally fueled in part by relief over the resolution of the 2020 election and expectations that a split government with Republicans in control of the Senate would curb any substantial policy changes by the incoming Biden administration. News of Pfizer’s vaccine trial added a layer of exuberance to those gains on Monday.
But the rally is still susceptible to changes in sentiment, and trading on Monday highlighted this. The S&P 500 gave up one percentage point of gains in the final half-hour of trading after the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, said President Trump was “100 percent within his rights” to challenge the outcome of the election — a reminder to investors that political uncertainty could linger.
Plus, the United States is still setting records for new coronavirus cases and it could be months before a vaccine is widely available. The economy is still struggling, with no new prospects for economic aid from Washington expected anytime soon, in particular as Mr. Trump is preoccupied with overturning the election outcome.
A wind turbine installation in the North Sea off England. Consumption of electricity generated by wind, solar and hydroelectric sources is expected grow nearly 7 percent this year.Credit…Suzie Howell for The New York Times
The energy industry has experienced its worst year in decades because of the pandemic, but clean sources for generating electricity have still managed to grow, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday.
Consumption of electricity generated by wind, solar and hydroelectric sources will grow nearly 7 percent in 2020, despite the fact that overall energy demand will slump by 5 percent, the steepest drop since World War II, the Paris-based forecasting group said in a report published on Tuesday.
This performance shows that these renewable sources of energy are “immune to Covid,” Fatih Birol, the agency’s executive director said at a news conference.
Renewable electricity is growing because of government policies encouraging such investments and strong interest among investors who want to put money into clean energy projects, according to the report.
The world will add nearly 4 percent to its capacity in 2020 to generate electricity from renewables like wind and solar, despite travel restrictions, factory closures and other obstacles caused by the pandemic. Growth next year is expected to accelerate to around 10 percent, as projects disrupted by the pandemic are brought online and efforts by governments in Europe and Asia to kick-start their economies while also tackling climate change ramp up.
Mr. Birol said that a return to the Paris accord on climate change by the United States, as President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. has pledged, could give “very strong momentum” to this drive, leading to a doubling of renewables capacity in the United States over five years.
An Amazon warehouse in France. The company is accused of abusing its dual role as a store for other merchants and a seller of its own products.Credit…Elliott Verdier for The New York Times
European Union regulators brought antitrust charges against Amazon on Tuesday, saying the online retail giant broke competition laws by unfairly using its size and access to data to harm smaller merchants who rely on the company to reach customers, writes Adam Satariano of The New York Times.
Here’s what you need to know about the suit:
The European Commission, the executive branch of the 27-nation bloc, said Amazon had abused its dual role as both a retail store used by millions of vendors and a merchant that sells its own competing goods on the platform.
The authorities accused Amazon of harvesting data from the millions of merchants who use its marketplace to spot popular products, then copy them and sell at a lower price.
The case, which has been expected for months, is the latest front in a trans-Atlantic regulatory push against Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google as the authorities in the United States and Europe take a more skeptical view of their business practices and dominance of the digital economy.
Many in Europe will be watching to see how the Amazon announcement is received by the incoming administration of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., who is expected to pursue policies that limit the industry’s power.
The announcement on Tuesday was just one part of the regulatory process. It can take many months, or even years, before a fine and other penalties are announced. The commission also could reach a settlement with Amazon.
BRUSSELS: The European Union (EU) formally accused US giant Amazon on Tuesday of abusing its control over an online marketplace to distort competition, a breach of anti-trust rules.
Competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said Brussels had informed the company of its view and would push on with an investigation, while opening a second formal probe.
This second investigation will probe whether Amazon’s Prime service and the “buy box” that appears on the screen “artificially” push buyers into sellers using Amazon’s logistics service.
“We reached the preliminary conclusion that Amazon illegally has abused its dominant position as a marketplace service provider in Germany and France,” she tweeted, ahead of a news conference.
“Amazon may have used sensitive data big scale to compete against smaller retailers. Now for Amazon to respond.”
Shortly afterwards, she told journalists in Brussels: “We must ensure that dual role platforms with market power, such as Amazon, do not distort competition.”
Amazon sells its own products to retail customers through its web platforms, but also allows third-party sellers to use its marketplace for their wares.
Europe accuses the online giant, which made its founder Jeff Bezos the world’s richest man, of using the customer data it gathers to compete with third-party clients.
“Its rules should not artificially favour Amazon’s own retail offers or advantage the offers of retailers using Amazon’s logistics and delivery services,” Vestager said.
“With e-commerce booming, and Amazon being the leading e-commerce platform, a fair and undistorted access to consumers online is important for all sellers.”
Vestager said that Amazon would have an opportunity to respond “in the coming weeks” but that they appear to be using their clients’ data to favour sales of its own products.
There is no time limit on the formal inquiry, nor on the second probe launched on Tuesday. But the European Commission has now sent Amazon “a formal statement of objection”.
This could lead to legal action.
“We disagree with the preliminary assertions of the European Commission and will continue to make every effort to ensure it has an accurate understanding of the facts,” Amazon responded in a statement.
“Amazon represents less than one percent of the global retail market, and there are larger retailers in every country in which we operate,” it said.
“There are more than 150,000 European businesses selling through our stores that generate tens of billions of euros in revenues annually and have created hundreds of thousands of jobs.”
In another development, India’s anti-trust watchdog has ordered a probe into Google’s payments app over allegations the tech giant is abusing its market dominance.
The Competition Commission of India said it was investigating allegations the California-based company “rigged” featured app lists to include Google Pay, “demonstrating clear bias”.
The ombudsman is also looking into a Google plan – to start from March 2022 – that requires some developers to pay a 30% commission on in-app purchases.
The move has sparked an outcry in India.
The case was filed by an anonymous complainant, the commission said, adding that its investigations unit would submit a report within 60 days.
Google has denied the allegations, and in a statement said its payments app was successful because it offers consumers a “simple and secure” experience.
Google Pay uses India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which manages payment apps with over 140 Indian banks that are part of the network.
UPI is also used by Walmart’s PhonePe and the Alibaba-backed Paytm. The three dominate India’s digital payments market.
UPI processed nearly 11 billion transactions in 2019, with a monthly rate of US$31 billion in February leading to an annualised payment value of US$373 billion this year, according to S&P Global.
Google’s Android mobile operating system is by far the dominant player in India, supporting 99 percent of all smartphones, according to the research agency Counterpoint.
Analysts have said having such a widely used operating system could make it easier for Google to control the market, a claim the Silicon Valley firm denies. – AFP
European Union regulators filed antitrust charges against Amazon Tuesday for allegedly using its internal, non-public data to gain an unfair advantage over merchants who sell products on the company’s marketplace.
The European Union’s (EU) Executive Commission filed the charges Tuesday, which represent the culmination of an investigation into Amazon opened in July 2019, according to a press release. In addition to the antitrust charges, the commission announced it will begin a second investigation into Amazon’s implementation of rules that may artificially favor its own products.
“Both investigations into Amazon’s business practices focus on competition concerns that are crucial in today’s platform economy where more and more businesses depend on dominant platforms, and where more and more consumers use these platforms’ services,” EU Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.
European Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager gives a press conference on an anti-trust case concerning Amazon on Tuesday. (Olivier Hoslet/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
The commission alleged that Amazon, which has both a role to provide an e-commerce marketplace and a role to sell its own products, uses information it obtains about third-party sellers to bolster its own products, according to Tuesday’s press release. Such information includes third-party sellers’ number of ordered and shipped units of products, revenues and number of visits to sellers’ offers.
Amazon uses its non-public data to avoid the “normal risks of retail competition,” the press release said. The American e-commerce giant specifically leverages this practice in France and Germany, Amazon’s two largest markets in the EU, the commission alleged.
“Data on the activity of third party sellers should not be used to the benefit of Amazon when it acts as a competitor to these sellers,” Vestager said. “The conditions of competition on the Amazon platform must also be fair. Its rules should not artificially favor Amazon’s own retail offers.”
The second investigation is into Amazon’s “buy box” feature, according to the press release. This investigation will also look into, which retailers receive the “Amazon Prime” label.
The “buy box” feature enables Amazon users to either buy a product immediately or add it to their shopping cart, according to RepricerExpress. However, Amazon chooses which retailer gets to sell the product, since the user doesn’t have a choice when using the feature.
“We will look into the potential effects of the rules set by Amazon for the Buy Box and for the Prime program,” Vestager said. “We want to make sure that the sellers that do not use Amazon’s logistics and delivery services also have a chance to compete on the merits on Amazon’s platform.”
Vestager has led the EU’s charge against Google, which it has hit with about $10 billion in fines, according to The Associated Press. The EU is also investigating Apple for antitrust violations.
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LONDON — European Union regulators filed antitrust charges Tuesday against Amazon, accusing the e-commerce giant of using its access to data from companies that sell products on its platform to gain an unfair advantage over them.
The charges, filed two years after the bloc’s antitrust enforcer began looking into the company, are the latest effort by European regulators to curb the power of big technology companies. Margrethe Vestager, the EU commissioner in charge of competition issues, has slapped Google with antitrust fines totaling nearly $10 billion and opened twin antitrust investigations this summer into Apple. The EU’s executive Commission also opened a second investigation Tuesday into whether Amazon favors product offers and merchants that use its own logistics and delivery system.
While the U.S. initially criticized the EU for targeting American companies, it has more recently started taking a tougher line on big tech as well, suing Google this year for abusing its dominance in online search and advertising.
The EU investigation found that Amazon is accessing and analyzing real-time data from other vendors that sell goods on its platform to help it decide which new products of its own to launch and how to price and market them. That “appears to distort genuine competition,” Vestager said.
Investigators focused on that practice in France and Germany, the company’s two biggest markets in the EU, but Vestager didn’t give specific examples of merchants affected by Amazon’s behavior.
The stakes have risen for retailers as many European countries have shut nonessential shops temporarily to try to contain the coronavirus pandemic, pushing more shopping online, where Amazon is a major presence.
Amazon faces a possible fine of up to 10% of its annual worldwide revenue. That could amount to as much as $28 billion, based on its 2019 earnings. The Seattle-based company rejected the accusations.
“We disagree with the preliminary assertions of the European Commission and will continue to make every effort to ensure it has an accurate understanding of the facts,” the company said in a statement, adding that it represents less than 1% of the global retail market and that there are bigger retailers in every country where it operates. Under EU rules, it can reply to the charges in writing and present its case in an oral hearing.
It could still be a while before a final decision as there are no deadlines for bringing an EU antitrust case to an end.
Vestager said that an analysis of millions of transactions and products listed on Amazon’s site found that “very granular, real-time business data” on third-party product listings and transactions was fed into algorithms for Amazon’s retail business that decide which new products to launch, their price and supplier.
Ordinary retailers take risks when they invest heavily to find new products, bring them to market and decide how much to sell them for, Vestager said.
“Our concern is that Amazon can avoid some of those risks by using the data it has access to,” she told reporters at a briefing in Brussels.
The preliminary conclusion, she said, is that by using the data Amazon can focus on the best-selling products, “and this marginalizes third-party sellers and caps their ability to grow.”
The EU’s second investigation will look at the criteria Amazon uses to decide which seller’s product gets chosen for the “buy box” and for its Prime membership service, and whether that means they get preferential treatment by the company’s logistics and delivery services.
The “buy box” lets shoppers add items directly to their shopping baskets. It features a single seller’s product even though multiple merchants might offer the item.
The second investigation excludes Italy because the country’s competition watchdog has already launched a similar probe last year.
