Apple and Amazon accused of ignoring Spanish antitrust order

Following a 2023 decision that fined Apple and Amazon over anti-competitive distribution clauses, Spain’s competition regulator now says the companies took too long to comply and may issue a new fine. Here are the details.

Back in 2023, Spain’s Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC) fined Apple and Amazon a total of €194 million (roughly $230 million) over anticompetitive practices.

From 9to5Mac’s original coverage of the decision:

In addition, the deal restricted advertising space for Apple competitors on Amazon’s Spanish website when users searched for Apple products, reportedly blocking more than 90% of the existing retailers selling Apple devices on the website.

At the time, the CNMC concluded that the deal was anticompetitive and, in addition to imposing fines (€143.6 million for Apple and €50.5 million for Amazon), ordered that the offending clauses be struck down immediately.

Both companies appealed the CNMC’s 2023 decision before Spain’s High Court, and the original fine has been suspended pending judgment.

The companies’ appeal of the original fine, however, did not exempt them from the obligation to remove the anti-competitive clauses.

So when the CNMC found that Apple and Amazon waited until May 2025 to actually remove them, nearly two years after being told to do so immediately, it opened a separate non-compliance investigation.

As Reuters reported today, that investigation has now concluded, and the finding could mean yet another fine on top of the original one:

In a statement to Reuters, Apple said that it disagreed with the CNMC’s findings, “adding it had always complied with authorities’ orders.” The company also framed the situation as an attempt to curb counterfeit products rather than to limit legitimate competition on Amazon.

Amazon, for its part, also told Reuters that it disagrees with the decision, and will appeal, arguing that it would be against its own interests to limit the exposure of small and medium-sized sellers.