Competition law also applies to Amazon

Clothing may not be offered on the internet without textile labelling, and household products may not be offered without unit price information – this also applies to the online retailer Amazon. Amazon was therefore ordered by the Regional Court (LG) Cologne to cease and desist.

Amazon had offered women's blouses sold directly without indicating in accordance with the Textile Labelling Regulation which textile fibres the blouse consisted of. Furthermore, Amazon had offered other products, such as carpet cleaner and a multi-purpose oil, without each time stating the unit price required under the Price Labelling Regulation. In each case, these were Amazon's own offers and not Amazon Marketplace offers by third parties.

Amazon defended itself by arguing that the missing information was merely a non-culpable "outlier", that is, an isolated error that was regrettable but could occur given Amazon's size in such a mass business operation. It also claimed that in some cases the information had been temporarily hidden due to a technical defect affecting some users.

Court decision

By Urteil vom 06.11.2014 – Az.: 31 O 512/13 the Regional Court (LG) Cologne granted the action by the German Competition Association and ordered Amazon to cease and desist due to missing unit price information and missing mandatory details under the Textile Labelling Regulation. The judges rejected Amazon's claims as unsubstantiated and irrelevant. The missing information could not be regarded as an oversight or "outlier", so the Regional Court (LG) Cologne held.

The judgment of the Regional Court (LG) Cologne is not yet final.

Conclusion

Although the alleged breaches are classics for a warning notice, court proceedings against such large enterprises for violations of competition law are not that common – despite the fact that of course such enterprises must also comply with the legal requirements and in particular those of competition law.