Online retailer Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) is irking the authorities (again), with officials from Japan’s Fair Trade Commission paying a visit to the headquarters of Amazon Japan.
The US company said it was cooperating with the authorities’ investigators although it is not entirely clear what it is the investigators are looking into; local media outlets said the raids were related to allegations that Amazon Japan had demanded fees from suppliers under threat of cutting off their access to Amazon if they did not pay.
Japan’s anti-trust laws make it illegal for a firm to abuse a dominant market position to make a business partner accept unprofitable terms.
Amazon Japan offices raided over anti-trust suspicions https://t.co/iEkbOP6o3G
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) March 15, 2018
The raid on the Amazon offices in Tokyo follows a similar raid in 2016 following allegations that Amazon had improperly coerced retailers to sell products on its site at prices that were not higher than those on rival online retail sites.
Amazon subsequently withdrew its demands.