European Commission opens two investigations into Apple

Text by: Patricia Lecompte

The European Commission is launching two investigations into Apple, which it suspects has violated European competition rules. One deals with its Apple Pay mobile payment service, the other with online music.

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A few months before its proposals for reforming European competition law, the European Commission is launching investigations against the Internet giants. Several of their competitors in Europe accuse them of controlling their access to the net and hampering their development. Brussels, which suspects them of anti-competitive practices in different fields, wants to fight against the hegemony of GAFA. In parallel, the European Commission opens this Tuesday two investigations against Apple.

The first investigation follows the complaint by the Swedish Spotify, an online music download site, which accuses Apple of abusing its dominant position in the online music market. Apple, which owns both the IOS operating system and the Apple Store app, charges a 30% fee on all subscriptions made from its Apple Store app store. A monopoly situation denounced by Spotifiy which suffers from a shortfall. In addition, Apple also owns an online music download platform, Apple Music, in direct competition with Spotify. Thanks to its application store, Apple would give priority to its own services to the detriment of those of competitors.

Priority investigation

In the Brussels press release, the Commission's executive vice-president responsible for competition, Margrethe Vestager, said: "  We must ensure that Apple's rules do not distort competition in the markets in which this company competes with other application developers, such as Apple Music or Apple Books  . ” Another complaint had been filed by a distributor of electronic and audio books, although Brussels did not name it, it would seem according to the Financial Times that it is Kobo, the subsidiary of the Japanese Rakuten.

The second investigation opened by Brussels, still against Apple, concerns its Apple Pay application. The commission denounces "  the terms, conditions and other measures imposed by Apple for the integration of Apple Pay in commercial applications and commercial websites on iPhones and iPads  ". For Margrethe Vestager, "  it appears that Apple sets the conditions for the use of Apple Pay in applications and on merchant websites  ". This contactless payment application forces the banks to pay him fees for each payment at merchants. However, they have no choice but to use Apple Pay to operate their own contactless payment application. In addition, it is impossible for holders of an Aple device to use another competing payment system such as Google Pay or Samsung Pay. This poses a problem in terms of competition.

The opening of an investigation by the Commission does not in any way prejudge its outcome and there is no deadline for rendering a result. However, in its press release, the European executive, often criticized for its slowness, insists on the "priority" nature of this investigation. At the announcement of the opening of these investigations, the apple firm immediately reacted, accusing the complainants of "  wanting to take advantage of the situation without paying  ". The European Commission warns that it will conduct in-depth investigations. If its suspicions are proven, Apple risks financial sanctions. It is not the first time that Brussels has attacked Apple. Four years ago, the apple company was ordered to reimburse 13 billion euros in improper tax benefits to Ireland.

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• European Union
• Internet
• GAFA

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