The Milan prosecutor’s office has requested the withdrawal of the market ban against Amazon Italia Transport, the company managing last-mile deliveries in Italy, after it paid more than 180 million euros in taxes, penalties, interest and social security contributions, and formally committed to revising its customer-delivery structure. Had it been confirmed by the investigating judge, the measure would have prevented the company from promoting itself on the Italian market, with significant commercial repercussions. The decision by prosecutors Paolo Storari and Valentina Mondovì came at the end of a negotiation lasting over a year, during which Amazon accepted economic and operational conditions deemed sufficient to safeguard the public interest.
The case forms part of Milan’s broader investigation into so-called “labour reservoirs”, which prosecutors believe operated for years across logistics, transport and security through chains of cooperatives and intermediary companies supplying labour at lower costs and with reduced social security obligations. According to the documents, this system created a tax fraud based on unpaid VAT and social contributions, generating financial benefits for client companies. In July 2024, as part of the Amazon-related investigation, more than 120 million euros were seized from the company for alleged tax irregularities relating to the period 2017–2022.
The case gained particular visibility due to the use of an algorithm tracking couriers in real time via a platform that displayed them as “red dots on a map”, enabling constant monitoring of their location, timings and work pace. According to prosecutors, this tool effectively gave Amazon powers typical of an employer, despite contracts being formally held by third-party cooperatives. The system, the documents argue, contributed to high workforce flexibility and pricing considered inadequate in light of the delivery times imposed. As part of the agreement that led to the request to revoke the ban, Amazon removed the disputed software and began designing a new, non-intrusive monitoring system, scheduled to go live by spring 2026.
The agreement reached between 2024 and late 2025 includes the payment of 179 million euros to the Italian Revenue Agency and 8.3 million to the social security authority Inps, totalling more than 180 million euros in taxes, penalties, interest and contributions. This payment, together with the overhaul of the last-mile model and the replacement of the tracking software, led Milan prosecutors to consider the “labour reservoir” chapter closed as far as Amazon Italia Transport is concerned. The outcome forms part of a wider investigative cycle that, according to the prosecutor’s office, has recovered more than one billion euros from over thirty companies, including Dhl, Gls, Fedex, Ups and Esselunga, and stabilised more than 50,000 workers hired directly by client firms.
However, closing the Amazon Italia Transport case does not conclude the wider legal issues involving the e-commerce group in Italy. The inquiry into alleged VAT evasion, estimated at around 1.2 billion euros, remains open and concerns the sale of goods imported from non-EU countries, particularly China, via the marketplace. Parallel to this runs a smuggling investigation that hypothesises a network of around seventy companies linked to front persons used to bring Chinese goods into Italy without proper customs declarations and without paying duties and taxes. Investigators have seized thousands of items, collected corporate documentation and acquired organisational charts from several logistics hubs to reconstruct responsibilities across the chain.
Amazon, in statements issued throughout the investigations, reiterates its cooperation with the authorities, its full compliance with applicable regulations and its direct management of logistics without using cooperatives or subcontracting. The company also highlights the safety and worker-protection standards applied in its distribution centres and last-mile network.
