MILAN (Reuters) - Italy’s antitrust authority said on Tuesday it had launched a probe into five Amazon companies for possible abuse of dominant market position in e-commerce and logistical services. It said the probe had been launched into Amazon Services Europe, Amazon Europe Core, Amazon EU, Amazon Italia Services and Amazon Italia Logistica.

The competition watchdog claimed Amazon offered certain benefits to third-party sellers only if they signed up to logistical services offered by the U.S. online retail giant.

“We are fully cooperating with the Authority,” Amazon said in comments sent by email.

The Authority, which said it had carried out inspections at some of the Amazon companies involved together with the tax police’s Antitrust unit, said the probe would be wrapped up by April 15 next year.