The iPhone manufacturer is thus subject to extended abuse control. The Federal Cartel Office did not target Apple’s tracking regulations.
Apple there is a risk of trouble with the Federal Cartel Office. The competition authorities have determined that the iPhone manufacturer is a “company with outstanding cross-market importance for competition”. This means that Apple and its subsidiaries are subject to extended abuse control under Section 19a of the German Act Against Restraints of Competition (GBW).
The paragraph in question describes a two-stage process to prohibit companies that are of paramount cross-market competitive importance from engaging in anti-competitive practices. In the first stage, the said “outstanding cross-market importance” is determined. With this statement in itself, however, the Bundeskartellamt does not make any statements about possible violations of competition law.
Another method deals with tracking rules
These are now to be examined in further proceedings, which the authority says it is now starting. One will be tested press release according to Apple’s tracking regulations and the App Tracking Transparency Framework. “The Bundeskartellamt is particularly investigating the initial suspicion that these regulations give preferential treatment to Apple’s own offers and/or could hinder other companies.”
The Bundeskartellamt justifies the outstanding cross-market importance with a narrow, proprietary vertical structure and an active device base of more than two billion devices. Apple is also “frequently active on interconnected market levels and business areas and is thus able to bind its users to its complex ecosystem in the long term”. As a result, Apple has “distinct rule-making power,” especially over app developers.
The Federal Cartel Office is also reviewing proceedings Microsoft
“Apple has a position of economic power that spans all markets, which gives the company scope for behavior that is not sufficiently controlled by the competition. Based on its mobile devices such as the iPhone, the company is the operator of a comprehensive digital ecosystem that is of great importance for competition not only in Germany, but also in Europe and worldwide,” comments Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt. “Apple, with its proprietary products iOS and the App Store, holds key positions for competition and access to the ecosystem and Apple customers. On the basis of this decision, we can specifically address and effectively prevent anti-competitive practices.”
Last week, the Federal Cartel Office also initiated proceedings against Microsoft. The authority examines whether the software group also has “outstanding cross-market importance”. Microsoft is about a possible position of power in a digital ecosystem that stretches across different markets. The procedure was allegedly triggered by complaints from several cloud providers.