NEWSLETTER-2017

132 NEWSLETTER 2017 with Articles 101 (agreements) and 102 (abuse of dominant position) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (“TFEU”). The MFN clauses required publishers to inform Amazon about more favorable or alternative terms offered toAmazon’s competitors, and/or to offer Amazon similar terms and conditions than to its competitors, or through other means to ensure that Amazon is offered terms at least as good as those offered to its competitors. The Commission considered that such clauses could make it more difficult for other e-book platforms to compete with Amazon by re- ducing publishers’ and competitors’ ability and incentives to develop new and innovative e-books and alternative distribution services. The clauses may have led to less choice, less innovation and higher prices for consumers due to less overall competition in the European Eco- nomic Area (“EEA”) in e-book distribution. If this was the case, this practice by Amazon would breach European Union competition law, since it would amount to an illegal abuse of dominance and restrictive business practices. On January 13, 2017, Amazon proposed its commitments and ap- pointed a trustee to monitor its compliance with the commitments. On January 24, 2017, the Commission invited feedback on commitments offered by Amazon from interested parties. 3 On January 24, 2017, the Commission published the Market Test Notice. 4 Upon receipt of the feedback, Amazon made some amendments to its previously proposed commitments. Finally, on May 4, 2017, the Commission adopted a decision that accepts the commitments offered by Amazon. The EU Commissioner in charge of competition policy, Margrethe Vestager, stated that the Commission wants to ensure fair competition in Europe’s e-books market, and the decision will open the way for publishers and com- petitors to develop innovative services for e-books, increasing choice and competition to the benefit of European consumers. 3 http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-17-137_en.htm (Access Date: 14.06.2017). 4 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.C_.2017.026.01.0002.01. ENG&toc=OJ:C:2017:026:TOC (Access Date: 14.06.2017).