Amazon will reportedly face formal EU antitrust charges over its treatment of third-party sellers

• The EU is to file formal antitrust charges against Amazon over the way it handles third-party sellers, the Wall Street Journal reports.
• If Amazon is found to have violated competition law, it could be fined up to 10% of its annual turnover.
• The EU has spent the last two years probing whether Amazon's use of data from the independent retailers that sell on its marketplace is in breach of EU competition rules.
• Amazon's role as both a platform for merchants and a seller on that same platform has become one of the most contentious areas of the business.

The European Union is planning on filing formal antitrust charges against Amazon over its treatment of third-party sellers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The EU has been building its case and circulating a draft of the charge sheet for a couple of months and could officially file the charges as early as next week or the week after, the report added.

Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The European Commission began a preliminary investigation into Amazon in 2018 and the following year announced a formal probe. That probe examined whether Amazon's use of data from the independent retailers that sell on its marketplace is in breach of EU competition rules.

Amazon's role as both a platform for merchants and a seller on that same platform has become one of the most contentious areas of the business, and under question is whether the firm uses data to gain an advantage over smaller sellers.

The charges could be filed as early as next week, according to the Journal, and the European Commission could take another year to make a decision. Should the Commission decide against Amazon, the company faces a fine of up to 10% of its annual turnover and restrictions to its business.