European Union regulators have opened an investigation into Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL, ETR:APC) for stifling competition, saying its App Store rules breach the bloc's Digital Markets Act (DMA), preventing app developers from freely steering consumers to alternative offers.
The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, said today that it is investigating the Silicon Valley giant's new contractual requirements for third-party app developers and app stores.
Thierry Breton, the EU internal market commissioner, said: “Apple’s new slogan should be ‘act different’. Today we take further steps to ensure Apple complies with the DMA rules.”
If companies are found guilty under the rules they can face a penalty of up to 10% of global annual revenue, potentially rising to 20% if the offence is repeated.
Apple told media it had "made a number of changes to comply with the DMA in response to feedback from developers and the European Commission".
"We are confident our plan complies with the law, and estimate more than 99 per cent of developers would pay the same or less in fees to Apple under the new business terms we created."