Photo: Jorge Láscar / Wikimedia Commons (archive; CC BY 2.0)
Spain’s competition regulator opened a new sanction proceeding against Apple and Amazon on Tuesday over their alleged failure to comply promptly with a 2023 order to stop anticompetitive conduct.
The action is a new compliance case, not a new €194 million fine. That amount was the penalty imposed in July 2023 over clauses in the agreements governing Amazon’s role as an Apple distributor, according to the National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC).
The regulator said the clauses unjustifiably restricted the number of Apple resellers on Amazon’s Spanish website, limited advertising space for Apple’s competitors and prevented Amazon from directing marketing campaigns for competing brands to customers who had bought Apple products.
The 2023 decision ordered both companies to end the conduct. CNMC said they did not remove the clauses restricting resellers and competitors’ advertising space until May 2025, after receiving a proposed finding of noncompliance from its competition directorate.
On October 1, 2025, the regulator’s council declared that Apple and Amazon had failed to comply with the July 2023 resolution and called for a new sanction proceeding. Tuesday’s case follows the courts’ denial of the companies’ requests for an interim suspension.
CNMC said opening the proceeding does not prejudge the investigation’s outcome. It now has a maximum of three months to investigate the case and issue a decision.
Both the 2023 penalty decision and the 2025 noncompliance decision have been appealed to Spain’s National High Court and are awaiting judgment. Reuters also reported the new proceeding.
JBizNews Desk | Madrid
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