The Commission has been investigating Apple for more than two years. According to Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, the American giant limits the opportunities for competitors to develop new products and consumer choice.
The European Commission suspects that US-based Apple is violating EU competition law with its Apple Pay service. It believes Apple is restricting the use of other payment services and electronic “wallets” on its devices.
In order to avoid huge fines, the mobile giant now has to answer the Commission’s detailed questions. The Commission is entitled to impose fines for competition infringements totaling 10% of the company’s total turnover.
According to the Commission, Apple will limit the so-called NFC proximity of its devices to the company’s own payment service. In this way, it prevents other companies from developing their own, competing payment products, among other things.
– Apple has restricted other parties’ access to key technologies needed to develop competing wallet solutions on Apple devices, EU Competition Officer Margrethe Vestager said Monday.
– If we can show that this is the case, this is an abuse of a dominant position. It is illegal under our rules, Vestager said.
Apple has justified its policy with, among other things, security. Instead, on Android phones, for example, competitors and various banks have been able to offer their local payment apps.
Apple has the right to state its own views first. It also has the right to appeal against any punitive measures taken by the Commission.
The Commission may fine Apple or require the company to open its device technology to other local payment services at a later date. So it may be a long time before the company changes its operations.
The Commission has been examining Apple practices since 2020.