European Union opens investigations against Apple for anti-competitive practice

Steph Deschamps / June 16, 2020

The European Commission announced on Tuesday the opening of several investigations against the American giant Apple that it suspects anti-competitive practices in various fields.

The first investigation follows a complaint from Swedish Spotify, which accuses Apple of abusing its dominant position in the online music market. Brussels also mentions the complaint of a distributor of electronic books / audio books, dissatisfied with the rules of the applications of the App Store. The European executive does not name the company, which, according to the British daily Financial Times, is Kobo, a subsidiary of the Japanese Rakuten's electronic books.

The second concerns the behavior of the American giant with its Apple Pay payment service.

The American giant immediately reacted in a statement: "It is disappointing that the European Commission puts forward unfounded complaints from a handful of companies who simply want to take advantage of the situation without paying or playing according to the same rules as the rest of the world ". "We don't think it's fair - we want to maintain a level playing field where anyone determined and with a promising idea can thrive," he added.

The Californian electronics and technology giant is not in its first dispute with the European Commission. In the summer of 2016, he was forced by the European executive to reimburse Ireland 13 billion euros in tax benefits deemed undue. He challenged this decision before the European Court of Justice, which has not yet decided.