Spanish Competition Regulator Probes Apple App Store

Spain’s antitrust regulator has opened an investigation into Apple’s App Store.

The probe, announced Wednesday (July 24) by the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC), is the latest in a series of similar actions by regulators involving the tech giant’s online store.

The CNMC says it wants to determine whether Apple’s App Store practices violate the country’s defense of competition law (LDC).

“Specifically, Apple may be engaging in anti-competitive practices by imposing unfair trading conditions on developers who use Apple’s App Store to distribute applications to users of Apple products,” the commission said in a news release.

“These practices could be considered a very serious infringement of the LDC, which may lead to fines of up to 10% of the total worldwide turnover of the offending companies in the year preceding the imposition of the fine.”

Reached for comment by PYMNTS, Apple offered a statement denying it imposed unequal conditions on developers using its store.

“Spanish developers of all sizes compete on a level playing field on the App Store,” the company said. “Apple will continue to work with the Spanish Competition Authority to understand and respond to their concerns.”

The news comes weeks after reports that India’s antitrust watchdog had accused Apple of abusing its dominant place in the app store market.

A report by Reuters — citing confidential information from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) — says that the regulator accuses Apple of engaging “in abusive conduct and practices” in the app store market. Apple has apparently denied wrongdoing in this case, saying it plays a minor role in the app world in India, where Android devices are more popular.

The CCI’s investigation — which is not public, though its report was seen by Reuters — contends that Apple holds “significant influence” over how digital products and services get to consumers, particularly via its iOS platform and App Store.

“Apple App Store is an unavoidable trading partner for app developers, and resultantly, app developers have no choice but to adhere to Apple’s unfair terms, including the mandatory use of Apple’s proprietary billing and payment system,” the CCI said. “From the perspective of app developers, the Apple iOS ecosystem is indispensable.”

As PYMNTS reported, Apple also recently came to an agreement with the European Union to give other companies access to its tap-and-go technologies, thus avoiding a fine and bringing to a close a four-year antitrust investigation.