ERDEM-NEWSLETTER-2018-metin

81 COMPETITION LAW sion’s investigations focus on Amazon’s use of data to the possible disadvantage of marketplace sellers, the Bundeskartellamt appears to be specifically examining Amazon’s terms of business and practices towards sellers in its German Amazon marketplace. Although the outcome of the scrutiny will demonstrate whether Amazon’s practices, in fact, constitute abuse of dominance, the terms of business of Amazon that might be considered abusive appear to be the liability provisions to the disadvantage of sellers, in combination with the allegedly non-transparent termination and blocking of sellers’ accounts, and the withholding or delaying of payment 2 . It should be stated that although many online platforms have been scrutinized in Europe, such as Google and Booking.com based on abuse of dominance, 2018 has been the first year in which Amazon’s retail marketplace is facing serious abuse of dominance accusations. Determination of the Relevant Market, Dominance, and Abuse in Online Platforms In order to provide a glimpse of what should be expected from the process in the months to come, a brief overview of different aspects in determination of market definition and dominance is noted, below. Firstly, in its investigation, Bundeskartellamt will first assess whether Amazon is dominant, and establishing dominance requires defining the relevant market as a prerequisite to the finding of domi- nance. However, this will be challenging, since in the case of online platforms, the defining of the relevant product market is rather complex, as online platforms are two-sided (or rather multi-sided) markets 3 . Indeed, online platforms interact with two or more separate customer groups, and meet the demands of these groups by acting as an interme- diary between them. Accordingly, demand-side substitutability for the 2 https://ecommercenews.eu/bundeskartellamt-investigates-abuse-of-dominance- by-amazon/ (Access date: December 2018). 3 Two-sided (or, more generally, multi-sided) markets are roughly defined as mar- kets in which one or several platforms enable interactions between end-users, and try to get the two (or multiple) sides “on board” by appropriately charging each side. (Rochet, Jean-Charles & Tirole, Jean. (2010). Two-Sided Markets: An Overview.).