German antitrust enforcers known for leveling charges against high-profile tech companies have a new target for accusations of dominant market position abuse: PayPal.pinning it as"the most popular" method to pay online there, used by 57 percent of customers who have a preferred payment method.
The Bundeskartellamt said yesterday that it had initiated proceedings against PayPal"on account of practices possibly foreclosing competitors and restricting price competition," the watchdog said in aAt issue are two sections of PayPal's German user agreement: One that deals with surcharge rules and another on the presentation of PayPal by vendors.
section 19, which prohibits abuse of a dominant market position, and GWB section 20, which separately covers"abuse of a position of relative or superior market power."