France files complaint against Amazon for abuse of dominant position: paper

PARIS, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- The French government has filed a complaint with the Paris Commerce Court against e-commerce giant Amazon for abusing its dominant position with some suppliers, local newspaper Le Parisien said on Monday.

Under the complaint, which follows a two-year investigation by France's consumer fraud watchdog, the DGCCRF, the Economy Ministry is seeking a fine of 10 million euros (11.8 million U.S. dollars) against Amazon, the newspaper said.

"The platform imposes unbalanced relations on its vendors ... [that may] push them into bankruptcy," DGCCRF official Loic Tanguy told Le Parisien.

Amazon can for instance unilaterally change contract terms it has with the more than 10,000 French companies using its e-commerce platform to sell their goods, or even suspend contracts entirely, the newspaper said.

A spokesman for Amazon said the company does not comment on legal proceedings.

Amazon runs a very successful business with a market cap of 574 billion dollars, almost double the market value of U.S. retail giant Wal-Mart. Enditem