The European Union’s competition bodies on Monday accused Apple of violating the bloc’s tech rules, an accusation that could lead to a hefty fine for the company, which also faces another investigation into new fees imposed on developers of apps.
The European Commission, which is also the EU’s antitrust and technology regulator, said it had sent its preliminary findings to Apple following an investigation launched in March.
The charge against Apple is the first brought by the Commission under the landmark Digital Markets Act (DMA), which aims to check the power of Big Tech and ensure a level playing field for smaller rivals. The bloc has until March next year to issue a final decision.
Violations of the DMA can result in a fine of up to 10% of a company’s global annual revenue.
EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager cited problems with Apple’s new terms, saying they do not comply with the DMA. Apple could avoid a fine if it can address concerns by changing its trading terms.
“As it stands, we believe these new terms do not allow app developers to freely communicate with their end users and enter into contracts with them,” he said at a conference.
She said it’s up to Apple to decide how to comply with the DMA, not her to tell the company what to do.
Apple said it has made a number of changes in recent months to comply with the DMA after receiving feedback from app developers and the Commission.
“As we have done regularly, we will continue to listen and engage with the European Commission,” he said in an email.
The Commission said that, in most terms of trade, Apple allows orientation only through “link-out”, which means that app developers can include a link in their app that redirects the customer to a web page where the customer can conclude a contract.
The body also criticized the fees charged by Apple to facilitate the initial acquisition of a new customer by developers through the App Store, saying they went beyond what was strictly necessary for such remuneration.
“We are confident that our plan complies with the law and estimate that more than 99% of developers would pay the same or less fees to Apple under the new commercial terms we created,” Apple said in its email.
NEW CONTRACTUAL REQUIREMENTS
The Commission said it is also launching an investigation into the company over its new contractual requirements for third-party app developers and app stores and whether these are necessary and proportionate.
At issue are the base technology fee, the multi-step user journey to download and install alternative app stores on iPhones, and the eligibility requirements for developers to offer alternative app stores or distribute apps directly from the web to iPhones.
Apple introduced the new tariffs in March in the EU, which include the basic technology fee for top app developers, even if they don’t use any of its payment services.
Vestager also criticized Apple’s announcement last week that it would delay the launch of its AI-powered features in the EU, which the company blamed on the DMA. Vestager said Apple has suggested its integration with artificial intelligence could be anticompetitive.
Source: Terra
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