London, June 12 (TIWN) After launching a formal anti-trust probe against Amazon a year ago, the European Union's Competition Commission is now ready to bring charges against the e-commerce giant over its treatment of third-party sellers, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The charges could come as early as next week or the week, said the report on Thursday, citing sources familiar with the case.   Amazon and the European Commission did not confirm the dates of filing the charges, as per the report.  The European Commission announced the antitrust investigation to assess whether Amazon's use of sensitive data from independent retailers who sell on its marketplace is in breach of EU competition rules.  "European consumers are increasingly shopping online. E-commerce has boosted retail competition and brought more choice and better prices," EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager had said in a statement last year while announcing the probe.  "We need to ensure that large online platforms don't eliminate these benefits through anti-competitive behaviour. I have therefore decided to take a very close look at Amazon's business practices and its dual role as marketplace and retailer, to assess its compliance with EU competition rules."