The French Competition Authority had a particularly heavy hand. It imposed a record fine of 1.1 billion euros on Apple for business practices that began in 2005. "This is the heaviest sanction ever pronounced [in France] against an actor economic, in this case Apple, whose extraordinary dimension has been duly taken into account, "said Isabelle de Silva, president of the Competition Authority.

The apple brand was found guilty of abusing the situation of economic dependence on it in which independent resellers of Apple equipment found themselves, and of having colluded with its two main wholesalers "to prevent distributors from let the competition play. "

This decision of the competition authority is the result of a long procedure started in 2012 after the filing of a complaint by eBizcuss, a distributor of Apple products, specializing in the high-end. This brand, which had shut down in May 2012, accused the American giant of having pushed it into bankruptcy by systematically and improperly favoring its own Apple Store.

"Very unfortunate" decision for Apple

The investigation by the competition gendarme determined that the creator of the iPhone had concluded an "illegal agreement" with the wholesalers who supply the shops in France. These distributors would have received instructions from Apple on the quantity of products to deliver to independent resellers for almost seven years. These small shops - whose survival often depended on stocks of iPhone, MacBook and others - could not have negotiated the volumes and prices of the products delivered.

Apple would also have done everything to prevent these brands from offering promotions larger than those practiced in Apple Stores. Independent stores were, in particular, forced to use the brand's official materials to display any discounts, which enabled Apple to establish "a price monitoring system". A store that took liberties with the official prices risked being no longer delivered. In addition, during certain launches of flagship products, independent stores were less well supplied than Apple Stores, found the Competition Authority.

Apple did not at all appreciate being sanctioned "for practices that go back more than ten years". The American group has warned that it intends to appeal a "very regrettable" decision which "ignores thirty years of solidly established principles of law on which all businesses in France rely". But the apple brand did not find it useful to specify which principle of law the Competition Authority is supposed to have flouted in this way.

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