The European competition authorities have raised concerns about the payment system Apple Pay from the iPhone manufacturer Apple.
The EU Commission informed the US tech giant on Monday of its preliminary view "that the company has abused its dominant position in the markets for mobile wallets on iOS devices".
iOS is Apple's operating system.
Specifically, it is about the allegation that iPhone owners can only use Apple Pay for payment transactions and not offers from alternative providers.
The Commission had already initiated the procedure in June 2020.
"We have evidence that Apple has restricted third-party access to key technologies needed to develop competing mobile wallets for Apple devices," said EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager in Brussels on Monday.
"In our statement of objections, we provisionally note that Apple may have restricted competition in favor of its own Apple Pay solution.
Such behavior would violate our competition rules.”
Apple now has the opportunity to comment.
If the Commission does not find the answer satisfactory, it could open formal antitrust proceedings, which could result in heavy penalties.