Spanish Antitrust Authority Accuses Apple and Amazon of Violating 2023 Order

The Spanish competition authority CNMC is launching a new phase in its long-running battle with tech giants. On Wednesday, February 25, 2026, the body informed that Apple and Amazon failed to comply with an order to immediately cease anti-competitive practices, which was imposed on them in a July 2023 resolution. Consequently, the CNMC's board recommended that the institution's directorate initiate new penalty proceedings, which could end with an additional fine being imposed on both corporations. The key disputed issue involves clauses contained in agreements regulating the terms under which Amazon operates as an authorized distributor of Apple products in Spain. The CNMC deemed them an unjustified restriction of competition. According to the authority's statement, these provisions disrupted the market in three ways. First, they limited the number of entities that could sell Apple products on Amazon's Spanish platform. Second, they restricted spaces on the website where advertisements for products competing with Apple's offerings could be displayed. Third, they prohibited Amazon from directing marketing campaigns to customers who purchased Apple products with offers for alternative brand products. The fight against anti-competitive practices by large technology corporations has become one of the priorities for regulators worldwide over the last decade, including in the European Union. Since 2017, the European Commission has imposed fines on Google exceeding €8 billion for competition law violations, and in 2023, new, stricter regulations – the Digital Markets Act – came into force to discipline so-called 'gatekeepers' of market access. The current conflict in Spain has its origins in a 2023 decision, when the CNMC fined Apple €143.64 million and Amazon €50.51 million, totaling approximately €194 million. At that time, the companies were ordered to immediately remove the disputed clauses from their agreements. However, as a subsequent inspection revealed, it was only in October 2025 that the CNMC board determined these practices were not terminated until May 2025. This delay forms the basis of the current accusation of violating the provisions of the previous decision. „Apple y Amazon han incumplido la orden de cesación de conductas impuesta en su resolución sancionadora de 2023.” (Apple and Amazon have failed to comply with the order to cease the conduct imposed in their 2023 penalty resolution.) — CNMC The process of opening new proceedings is a formal step that does not yet determine guilt or the amount of any potential penalty. Nevertheless, it signals the determined stance of the Spanish regulator, which does not intend to tolerate delays in implementing its decisions. This case fits into a broader, global trend of tightening oversight of dominant digital platforms and their contractual practices, which can harm smaller market players and limit consumer choice.