Apple Has 'Very Serious' DMA Issues, EU to Enforce Rules 'Soon'

Apple is facing a "number" of "very serious" issues with its Digital Markets Act compliance in Europe, EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in an interview with CNBC.

App Store vs EU Feature 2
The European Commission opened an investigation into Apple in March to determine if Apple's EU app marketplace changes were complying with DMA regulations. The DMA requires Apple to provide developers with an option to distribute apps outside of the App Store and without ‌App Store‌'s fees. Apple implemented support for app marketplaces with iOS 17.4, but it charges an 0.50 euro Core Technology Fee for each download after the initial 1 million annual installs.

Vestager does not believe that Apple's changes meet the requirements of the DMA. "We have a number of Apple issues; I find them very serious," she said. "I was very surprised that we would have such suspicions of Apple being non-compliant."

She went on to say that this implementation "is not what was expected of such a company" and that the DMA rules will be enforced "exactly with the same top priority as with any other business."

The European Commission plans to reveal the conclusions of its probe "hopefully soon," and if Apple is found to be violating the terms of the DMA, the European Union could levy significant fines up to five percent of its average daily worldwide revenue (upwards of $1 billion).

Last week, Financial Times said that the European Commission is planning to charge Apple for violating the Digital Markets Act. The EC believes that Apple is not complying with its obligation to allow developers to "steer" users outside of the ‌App Store‌ without fees.

Apple does still have time to make changes to iOS before charges are announced by regulators, and the EC is expected to make an announcement in the "coming weeks."

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Top Rated Comments

frenchcamp49er Avatar
9 months ago
Apple needs to leave the EU
Score: 77 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sputnikv Avatar
9 months ago
the eu regulates tech as much as it does because its own sector can’t compete with anything coming out of the states, japan, s.korea and china
Score: 57 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Maclver Avatar
9 months ago
I personally don’t plan on side loading apps. But at what point is Apple just going to have to open up iOS to be like macOS where I can download any app I wanted from any source without Apple involvement.
Score: 53 Votes (Like | Disagree)
garranhado Avatar
9 months ago
US creates
China copy
EU tax, tax, tax
Score: 41 Votes (Like | Disagree)
WolfSnap Avatar
9 months ago
Maybe Apple should just pull out of the EU. Just a thought.
Score: 38 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NMBob Avatar
9 months ago
The only responsible thing to do in that they are mortally damaging everyone is to suspend all sales and services in the EU until the lawyer stuff is finished.
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)