Apple Pay: EU Commission complains of violation of competition rules

If you want to make payments with the iPhone, you cannot avoid Apple Pay. The EU Commission sees this as a violation of European competition regulations – and is driving antitrust proceedings against Apple.

Apple is already threatened with the second antitrust case within two years. After preliminary investigations, the EU Commission has come to the conclusion that the iPhone group is violating European competition regulations. According to official opinion of the Brussels authority, Apple is abusing its position of power with payment services on the iPhone. The services of other manufacturers would be restricted in favor of their own solution. If you want to make mobile payments with your iPhone, you can’t avoid Apple Pay.

Apple faces heavy fines

Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager commented: “Our main finding in our Complaint Notice is that Apple may have restricted competition in favor of its own Apple Pay solution. If true, that would be a breach of our competition rules.”

Because competition is needed in such an innovative market environment as that of mobile payments. However, third-party providers are currently not permitted to make full use of the iPhone’s NFC chip for their technologies. Apple justifies this by saying that Apple Pay is the only solution that can guarantee security and data protection for payments.

Apple now has the opportunity to respond to the EU Commission’s complaint. If the group cannot allay the authorities’ concerns, official antitrust proceedings are opened – the second in two years. Last year, the European Commission accused Apple of unfair competition in the App Store. In both cases, there are high fines. According to time online up to ten percent of a company’s worldwide annual turnover.