This fine results from Bercy’s complaint, which in 2017 accused Apple and Google of “impose tariffsto French start-ups.
Apple was fined 1 million euros by the Paris Commercial Court on Monday for imposing unbalanced conditions on mobile app developers, and will have to change its practices to comply with new European regulations. The American giant (90 billion dollars in revenue from July to September) was the subject of a complaint filed in 2017 on behalf of the Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire, and revealed by him the following year, at the when Donald Trump’s United States wanted to tax steel and aluminum imports.
Bercy accused Apple and Google, which dominate the global ecosystem of mobile applications, of “impose tariffs“to French start-ups wishing to sell their applications on their platforms, to recover their data and to be able to “unilaterally change contracts“. According to the judgment of which AFP was aware, the commercial court upheld the “significant imbalance” and “significant legal and economic insecurityborn in particular from the impossibility for developers to renegotiate the terms of the contract with Apple or to contest the suspension of an application.
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On the other hand, it rejected 5 grievances out of 11, in particular on the exclusivity of the payment system or on the commission rate (30%), “clearly not excessive and (which) is found very frequently in commerce whether online or physical“. The court also did not ask for changes to certain contentious clauses and referred to the European regulation on digital markets (DMA) voted in October, which “henceforth imposes, everywhere in Europe, on Apple a rebalancing of the clauses in favor of the developers“. “Apple believes in dynamic, competitive markets where innovation can flourish. (…) We will review this decision carefully and continue our efforts to support developers and provide a safe user experience.“Reacted Monday Apple in a statement to AFP. Google was sentenced in March to a fine of two million euros, and to modify seven clauses of its application distribution contract.
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Under pressure to justify commissions they impose on developers around the world, the two American giants, publishers of operating systems for Android and iOS mobiles, have cut their commission for small developers and subscriptions in half and authorized more flexibility in pricing applications. Enforcing DMA could also force Apple to allow the use of an alternative app store to the App Store and third-party payment systems within apps.