The charges are based around two contracts the companies signed on 31 Oct 2018 granting Amazon the status of authorised Apple dealer, including anti-competitive clauses that affected the online market for electronic devices in Spain.

CNMC, as the watchdog is known, said in a statement that the two companies restricted the number of sellers of Apple products on the Amazon website in Spain without justification.

More than 90 per cent of the existing retailers using Amazon’s marketplace to sell Apple devices were blocked as a result, CNMC added.

The regulator said that Amazon reduced the capacity of retailers in the European Union based outside Spain to access Spanish customers. It restricted the advertising Apple’s competitors were allowed to place on its website when users searched for Apple products, CNMC added.