Hong Kong Singularity Finance reported on September 21. On September 19, the European Commission officially announced the launch of two procedures against Apple to strengthen its compliance with the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which aims to maintain a fair competition environment in the digital market.

From May 2023, DMA will officially come into effect, regulating online platform giants, that is, large digital platforms that are deemed to have sufficient influence to create digital barriers. Previously, EU regulators had in-depth dialogue with US technology giant Apple, requiring it to follow this new rule aimed at promoting fair competition in the digital market.

According to the provisions of the DMA, Apple is required to provide barrier-free and efficient interoperability to third-party developers and companies that rely on hardware and software functions running on its iOS and iPadOS operating systems. This move aims to eliminate potential market access barriers to competitor products (such as smart watches, headphones and virtual reality devices) and prevent Apple from favoring its own products, such as AirPods and Apple Watch, through technical means.

Specifically, the first procedure requires Apple to explain in detail how it will ensure that its devices are fully compatible with other brands of smart watches, headphones, etc., covering core functions such as notification push, device pairing and connection, in order to eliminate industry concerns that it may restrict competition. The second procedure focuses on Apple's process for handling developer interoperability requests, ensuring that third-party devices can seamlessly access the Apple ecosystem, and further promoting market openness and competition.

Margrethe Vestager, head of the European Union's antitrust department, said in a statement that this is the first time that the European Commission has used the regulatory procedures under the DMA to guide companies to fulfill their obligations. If Apple fails to comply with the DMA, it will face a fine of up to 10% of its global annual turnover. However, she also mentioned that this move is only a procedural step and does not mean the beginning of a new investigation. Apple said that in order to comply with the DMA, the company has set up a channel for application developers in the EU to request additional interoperability with iOS and iPadOS.

So far, the DMA has designated seven digital market "gatekeepers" including Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Booking.com, and platform operating companies such as Google, TikTok, and Facebook. This investigation procedure is expected to be completed within six months, during which the European Commission will inform Apple of the preliminary findings.

It is worth mentioning that in June 2024, the European Commission pointed out that Apple's App Store operating rules violated the relevant provisions of the Digital Markets Act (DMA). According to the preliminary review documents of the European Commission, Apple prohibits app developers from freely guiding consumers to obtain content through unofficial channels, which has attracted close attention from regulators. Although Apple still retains the right to defend and respond, the European Commission has made it clear that it has the right to make a violation judgment at any time before March 2025 based on the progress of the investigation.

Looking back at an in-depth investigation by the European Commission earlier this year, the results showed that Apple imposed strict restrictions on application developers, explicitly prohibiting them from promoting or providing more economical music subscription service options outside the App Store platform. This behavior directly violated the principle of fair competition, so the European Commission issued a huge fine of up to 1.8 billion euros to Apple.

In addition, on September 18, the pan-European consumer protection organization Euroconsumers jointly launched a coordinated class action in Belgium, Italy, Spain and Portugal, pointing out that Apple charged unfairly high fees for non-Apple branded music streaming services through its App Store, which aroused widespread social concern. The organization represents more than 500,000 affected consumers in these four countries and seeks a total of approximately 62 million euros in compensation.