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The decision lets the companies off the hook for more than €200 million in fines

A newly released document shows that an Italian administrative court scrapped a fine imposed by the country’s antitrust authority on US tech giants Apple and Amazon for alleged collusion.

The antitrust authority fined both companies a total of more than 200 million ($195.3 million) in 2021, citing alleged anti-competitive cooperation in the sale of Apple and Beats products.

Amazon was fined €68.7 million euros ($67.6 million), while Apple received a fine of €134.5 million ($132.3 million). The watchdog also ordered the companies to provide retailers access to genuine Apple and Beats products through the Italian Amazon web store in a “non-discriminatory manner”.

The tech giants won their appeal

Both Apple and Amazon appealed against the fines. “To ensure our customers purchase genuine products, we work closely with our reseller partners and have dedicated teams of experts around the world who work with law enforcement, customs and merchants to ensure only genuine Apple products are being sold”, Apple said, denying any wrongdoing.

In a separate statement, Amazon said it strongly disagreed with the decision of the Italian authority and that the proposed fine was “disproportionate and unjustified”. Earlier this year, the fine was reduced to an overall €173.3 million due to a “material error” in the first calculation.

Amazon said in a statement it welcomed the court’s decision. The antitrust authority declined to comment. Apple had no immediate comment.