Spain’s antitrust authority announced Wednesday that it has launched an investigation into the terms Apple puts on developers of mobile programs offered on its App Store.
The Comision Nacional De Los Mercados Y La Competencia (CNMC) of Spain, which has already penalised Apple and Google a total of $218 million for antitrust violations, will oversee the probe.
The two companies are currently appealing the ruling to the Spanish High Court, so the fine is on hold.
According to the regulator, known as the CNMC, Apple might have engaged in anticompetitive behaviour when it imposed unfair terms on developers of mobile apps that were offered for sale in its app store.
“Apple may be engaging in anti-competitive practices consisting of imposing unfair commercial terms on developers who use Apple’s application shops (Apple App Store) to distribute applications to users of Apple products,” the CNMC regulator said in a statement.
“These practices could be considered as a very serious infringement” of competition rules, which could lead to fines of up to 10 per cent of the company’s total global turnover, it added.
Newsng understands that it is not yet explicit about the allegations, presumably since the CNMC is just starting an investigation. It is probable, nevertheless, that a portion of the examination will focus on Apple’s prior anti-steering limitations in light of recent anti-trust enquiries from other nations.
It is unclear how the investigation by the Spanish authorities, which might take up to two years to finish, will turn up. If the CNMC validates a violation of competition laws, Apple may face fines equivalent to up to 10% of its yearly global revenue, or billions of euros.
We earlier reported that the French competition authority announced that it has penalised Alphabet’s Google 250 million euros ($271.73 million) for violating EU intellectual property laws in its dealings with media publishers.
