On Monday, Apple was accused of monopolizing its NFC chip technology. European Union antitrust regulators charged the big tech company with restricting access to its payment technology by rivals. The company could be made to pay a heavy fine as well as be forced to open up its mobile payment system to its rivals.
Apple received a charge sheet known as a statement of objections from the European Commission. This document contains how the company has abused its dominant market position in markets for mobile wallets on iOS devices. In a statement, Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s antitrust chief said that “We have indications that Apple restricted third-party access to key technology necessary to develop rival mobile wallet solutions on Apple’s devices. In our statement of objections, we preliminarily found that Apple may have restricted competition, to the benefit of its own solution Apple Pay.”
Apple, in response, reiterated plans to continue to work with the commission. “Apple Pay is only one of many options available to European consumers for making payments, and has ensured equal access to NFC while setting industry-leading standards for privacy and security,” the company said in a statement.
The European Union recently issued new antitrust regulations which are expected to take effect as early as October of this year. Called the Digital Markets Act, the new antitrust regulations are targeting top technology firms in the US and could alter the business models of US tech companies such as Apple, Meta, Google, etc.
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) is a legislative proposal under consideration by the European Commission. The DMA intends to ensure a higher degree of competition in the European Digital Markets, by preventing large companies from abusing their market power and by allowing new players to enter the market. It establishes a list of obligations for designated Gatekeepers and in case of non-compliance, there will be enforced sanctions mechanisms, including fines of up to 10% of the worldwide turnover. The rule is only relevant to tech companies that have a market capitalization of at least 75 billion euros or yearly revenue within the EU region of nothing less than 7.5 billion euros in the past three years. Companies to which the rule also applies must have a minimum of 45 million monthly users or 10,000 business users in the EU.
