NEWSLETTER-2017

131 COMPETITION LAW Amazon Decision and E-Book Commitments* Att. Elif Mungan Introduction The usage of e-books increases every day. Moreover, the discus- sion has ensued as to whether e-books will replace printed books, and make the latter “vintage.” The future will reveal the answer soon. Leaving this discussion aside, the rapidly growing e-book popularity in the e-commerce sector is a fact. Amazon EU S.à.r.l (“Amazon”) is the largest e-book distributor in Europe. Therefore, Amazon’s activities draw the attention of the European Commission (“Commission”). Indeed, the Commission has conducted a formal antitrust investigation with regard to Amazon’s ar- rangements with e-book publishers, which contain the so-called “most favored nation clauses” (“MFN”). On May 4, 2017, the Commission adopted a decision that renders legally binding the commitments offered by Amazon. The commitments address the Commission’s preliminary competition concerns relating to a number of clauses in Amazon’s distribution agreements with e-book publishers in Europe 1 . Additionally, the Competition and Markets Authority (United Kingdom) and the Bundeskartellamt (Germany) also investigated Amazon’s MFN arrangements, but terminated their investigations due to the fact that Amazon had terminated its MFN applications. Background On June 11, 2015, the Commission opened an investigation in to Amazon. 2 The Commission, in particular, investigated theMFN clauses included inAmazon’s contracts with publishers, and their compatibility * Article of June 2017 1 http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-17-1223_en.htm (Access Date: 12.06.2017). 2 http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-15-5166_en.htm (Access Date: 12.06.2017).