Unfair competition on Amazon in Germany and the EU: how to check, report and act against competitors' violations

When is a competitor's listing unfair competition?

This guide covers selling on Amazon in Germany and the EU. German unfair competition law (UWG) reaches further than advertising. Under Section 3a UWG, it is unfair to break a statutory provision that is also meant to regulate market conduct in the interest of market participants, if the breach can noticeably affect their interests. Misleading claims about a product's characteristics or origin are covered by Section 5 UWG. Whether a specific obligation counts as such a market conduct rule is for the partner law firm to assess.

The practical effect for you as a seller: whoever skips obligations saves costs and can undercut you. The table shows typical violations on Amazon, their legal basis and the competent body.

Section 3a UWG (German) · GPSR on EUR-Lex · VerpackDG, BGBl. 2026 I No. 207 (German) · Section 6 ElektroG (German)

Step 1: Document the violation and check the public registers

Before you report anything, capture the listing as it is and check what can be checked publicly. Which evidence a specific case needs is for the partner law firm to decide. These basics help in every case and keep you from reporting on suspicion alone:

1. Capture the listing: screenshots with date and time, URL, ASIN, seller name and the details from the seller profile
2. Check the required information: manufacturer with postal and email address, EU responsible person, product identification, and warnings and safety information (Art. 19 GPSR)
3. Check the registers: the LUCID packaging register and the stiftung ear producer registers for electrical equipment and batteries can be searched publicly. A missing entry is an indication, not proof, for example because a producer may be registered under a different name.
4. If needed, make a test buy to check the labeling on the product and packaging
5. File everything with a date: listings change, and a later assessment needs the state at the time of the violation

LUCID public register · stiftung ear: electrical equipment producers · stiftung ear: battery producers

Step 2: Report it to Amazon (notice and action under the DSA)

As an online platform, Amazon must offer a way for anyone to report illegal content under the Digital Services Act, the notice-and-action mechanism (Art. 16 DSA). According to Amazon, this runs through the link for reporting a problem with the product on every product page (on Amazon.de: “Ein Problem mit diesem Produkt melden”). Trade mark and copyright owners use Amazon's Report Infringement form instead, or Report a Violation if their brand is enrolled in Brand Registry.

Under Art. 16(2) DSA, a proper notice contains:

• a sufficiently substantiated explanation of why the content is illegal
• the exact location, such as the URL of the offer
• the name and email address of the person reporting
• a statement confirming that the information is accurate and complete to the best of their knowledge

DSA on EUR-Lex · Amazon: reporting illegal content (German)

How fast Amazon has to act

Amazon has to process notices in a timely, diligent, non-arbitrary and objective manner (Art. 16(6) DSA). Notices about product safety come with a fixed deadline: online marketplaces must process them without undue delay and in any event within three working days (Art. 22(8) GPSR). If Amazon declines, its internal complaint system stays open for at least six months, including for the person who filed the notice (Art. 20 DSA).

Whether Amazon's reporting flow meets the DSA is disputed. On 29 July 2026, the Higher Regional Court of Bamberg (3 UKl 13/25 e) ruled in a case against a large online marketplace that the reporting button must be clearly labelled and that requiring a customer account stands in the way of easy access. According to press reports, the case concerned Amazon. An appeal to the Federal Court of Justice has been allowed. Amazon's help page still points to signing in with a customer account to report (as of November 2026).

Higher Regional Court of Bamberg, 3 UKl 13/25 e (German)

Step 3: Inform the authorities

Independently of Amazon, you can inform the competent body. An authority can act against the seller itself, not just against one listing:

• Market surveillance authorities of the German states: for product safety, GPSR information and CE marking. For your complaint about an online offer, the authority for the district where your business or residence is located is competent (Section 4(2) MüG).
• German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt): the competent authority for registering electrical equipment and batteries. The registers are run by stiftung ear.
• Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister: runs the public LUCID register, where registered packaging producers are visible to everyone.
• Food control authorities of the German states: for unauthorized health claims on foods and food supplements.
• Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur): responsible for DSA oversight in Germany and home of the coordination office for digital services (Sections 12 and 14 DDG).

Step 4: Have a cease-and-desist letter and legal action assessed ²

A competitor who sells goods to a not insignificant extent and not just occasionally can demand that a violation stop (Section 8(3) No. 1 UWG). Court proceedings are usually preceded by a cease-and-desist letter (Abmahnung), asking the competitor to end the violation and sign a declaration to cease and desist backed by a contractual penalty (Section 13(1) UWG). Registered business associations such as the Wettbewerbszentrale can also pursue violations (Section 8(3) No. 2 UWG). What to know about costs and risks:

• No cost reimbursement for online information duties: competitors cannot claim the costs of a cease-and-desist letter for breaches of statutory information and labeling duties in e-commerce (Section 13(4) No. 1 UWG). Whether a specific violation falls under this, such as missing required information in a listing, is for the law firm to assess.
• No contractual penalty in a first letter: for such breaches, a competitor cannot agree a contractual penalty in a first cease-and-desist letter if the recipient usually employs fewer than 100 people (Section 13a(2) UWG).
• No abuse: a letter aimed mainly at generating fees or contractual penalties is inadmissible (Section 8c UWG). Whoever sends an unjustified or abusive letter may have to cover the other side's defence costs (Section 8c(3), Section 13(5) UWG).
• Act quickly: for interim relief, the law presumes urgency (Section 12(1) UWG). Waiting too long after learning of the violation risks a court finding that the urgency is gone.
• No reports on suspicion: spreading unprovable, damaging claims about a competitor or deliberately obstructing them can itself be unfair competition (Section 4 Nos. 2 and 4 UWG). And Amazon must, after a prior warning, suspend processing notices for a reasonable period from anyone who frequently submits manifestly unfounded ones (Art. 23(2) DSA).

Section 8 UWG · Section 13 UWG · Section 13a UWG

Checking on your own vs. with Refix

A single reported offer is quickly replaced. It only works if you keep your category in view continuously, which is hard to do alone:

How Refix helps

Refix captures the publicly visible information on competitor listings in your category, including manufacturer details and the responsible person, documents which details are missing, and estimates the revenue potential. Data capture is free; documented data preparation costs €199 plus product costs, including six months of follow-up monitoring.

Whether this amounts to a legal violation is assessed case by case by a specialist partner law firm. If it sees grounds for action, it can, for example, file a notice under Art. 16 DSA with Amazon. Neither the reported competitor nor Amazon learns that the report came from you.