The Consumer Center NRW has achieved an initial partial success against Amazon: The Düsseldorf Regional Court declared the clause that Amazon introduced in fall 2022 for unilateral price increases for its Prime membership program to be invalid. According to the court, the US company should have explicitly asked its customers for consent.

The consumer center is now aiming for a class action to force Amazon to retract the previous price increase and refund the difference to the affected customers. Amazon is currently considering whether to appeal the initial court ruling, according to a company spokeswoman.

The consumer advocates had also demanded that Amazon should have explicitly asked for customer consent in an information email. However, the court rejected this point. More crucial, however, is that the contract clause itself was declared invalid, according to the consumer center.

The contested clause stated: "We are entitled to adjust the membership fee at our reasonable discretion and based on expediently justified and objective criteria." As criteria, Amazon mentioned, among other things, inflation and tax increases.

Amazon considers the price increase to be lawful.

It is not the first legal conflict of consumer centers with Amazon. Since 2022, a class action by the Consumer Center of Saxony has been underway, concerning the question of whether Amazon is allowed to charge an additional fee for Prime Video to be broadcast without advertisements.