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Antitrust: Commission sends Statement of Objections to Apple clarifying concerns over App Store rules for music streaming providers

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The European Commission has sent a Statement of Objections to Apple clarifying its concerns over App Store rules for music streaming providers.

This procedural step follows the Commission's Statement of Objections which outlined the Commission's preliminary view that Apple abused its dominant position by: (i) imposing its own in-app purchase payment technology on music streaming app developers (‘IAP obligation'), and (ii) restricting app developers' ability to inform iPhone and iPad users of alternative music subscription services (‘anti-steering obligations').

Today's Statement of Objections clarifies that the Commission does no longer take a position as to the legality of the IAP obligation for the purposes of this antitrust investigation but rather focuses on the contractual restrictions that Apple imposed on app developers.

The Commission takes the preliminary view that Apple's anti-steering obligations are unfair trading conditions in breach of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (‘TFEU'). In particular, the Commission is concerned that the anti-steering obligations imposed by Apple on music streaming app developers prevent those developers from informing consumers about where and how to subscribe to streaming services at lower prices.

A press release is available online.

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