Things appear not to be going in favor of Apple lately, with a series of executives leaving the firm. Now, a group of 20 app developers and consumer groups has called upon European regulators to enforce EU laws against Apple over its fee structure. They argue that its fee structure practices unfairly disadvantage European developers compared to their US rivals. This is after a recent court decision in the US.
Developers’ coalition urges the EU to take action on Apple’s fee practices
The European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) mandates that large tech platforms like Apple enable in-app transactions outside their ecosystem at no charge. However, the developers’ coalition raises concerns over a disparity. This follows a US court ruling that restricts Apple’s ability to impose fees on external transactions.
Earlier this year, the European Commission fined Apple 500 million euros (~$588 million) for violating the DMA. Specifically for preventing developers from guiding users to alternative payment methods. In a response, Apple revised its terms. Under this, the fee ranges from 13% for smaller businesses to up to 20% for Apple Store purchases. There are additional penalties of 5% to 15% on external transactions.
The Coalition for Apps Fairness (CAF) represents firms such as Proton and Deezer. They argue that these revised terms still violate DMA conditions. They add that US developers benefit from more favorable terms after the court ruling.
The revised terms still violate DMA stipulations
“ The situation is untenable and damaging to the app economy ,” said CAF in a statement. Global Policy Counsel for CAF, Gene Burrus, said that developers in the EU have to either bear the cost of those fees or pass them down to customers. “ It is bad for European companies, and it is bad for European consumers ,” he said.
CAF opines that European developers continue to be in an unfavorable condition six months after the Commission declared Apple’s policies illegal under the DMA. Though Apple mentioned further policy changes to take effect in January, it has yet to specify the revisions.
“ We want the EU Commission to tell Apple that the law is the law and that free of charge means free of charge ,” Burrus said. He added that the European authorities should refer the issue to the European Court of Justice, if necessary.
