Behind-the-scenes of the two years of Germany's attack and defense, which the FTC relied on after an unexpected approach from Amazon

On the 11th, the Fair Trade Commission, which had been investigating the online shopping giant Amazon Japan, approved the improvement plan submitted by the company and concluded its investigation.

The investigation into giant internet companies by competition authorities was initially expected to last for a long time. How did it come to be decided?

The JFTC's on-site inspection will take place in November 2024. The next day, the then-secretary general announced at a regular press conference that the inspection had begun.

It is rare that the details of the charges are mentioned at the beginning of an investigation. However, regarding Amazon, he said, ``There are suspicions that it is restricting the business activities of sellers, and this is suspected of violating antitrust laws.''

The other party is a digital platform operator. Because the impact would be widespread, it appears that the aim was to publicize the investigation summary and solicit information from a wide range of people. The same thing happened a year ago when Google was investigated over its search app.

The JFTC took issue with the allocation of slots called the ``Cart Box,'' which prioritizes products on Amazon's website. Amazon required sellers to match the lowest price for the same product on other online shopping sites.

The JFTC suspected that Amazon was effectively forcing sellers to set prices that they should be able to freely decide.

Unexpected consultation, FTC faced ``2 choices''

At the beginning of the investigation, the JFTC...