EU concludes Apple’s antitrust investigation

Following the news from April 2024, when Apple made public its offer to open up a tap-and-go tech mobile payments system, the European Commission now accepted the firm’s commitments over how it runs Apple Pay, thus settling a competition investigation started in 2022. Also, the move allowed Apple to prevent potential fines due to accusations of breaking competition laws by blocking participants’ access to its technology.

Back in 2022, the European Union accused Apple of restricting access to its NFC payments technology, with the company receiving a ‘Statement of Objections’ for suspected anticompetitive actions. This was caused by Apple imposing limitations on third-party developers accessing the NFC input, making it available only via Apple Pay on iOS devices. 

• Allowing NFC access in Host Card Emulation (HCE) mode, which delivers secure storage of payment credentials and transactions;

• Enabling users to set HCE payment apps as default for store payments and utilise capabilities such as Field Detect, Double-Click, Touch ID, Face ID, and passcode authentication;

• Procedures that review Apple’s decisions to restrict access.

In addition, all commitments made by Apple are set to be applied to all third-party mobile app developers and iOS users located in the European Economic Area (EEA), as well as when travelling outside the region. The pledges intend to ensure that the standardised NFC technology leveraged in contactless payments can be utilised by competitors in Apple devices across the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. Following feedback received from the financial industry, Apple modified its previous pledges to include the removal of the requirement for developers to have a PSP licence to access NFC input and decrease deadlines for resolving disputes, among others.

Moreover, Apple underlined that the firm plans to deliver developers across the EEA with NFC contactless payment options for several use cases, including car keys, corporate badges, hotel keys, and concert tickets. Representatives from the European Commission highlighted that the regulator previously tested a package and received feedback on whether the commitments could address current concerns. After asking Apple to improve its pledges, the regulator approved them and made them binding on the company.