Spain antitrust regulators begin App Store investigation

Spain’s National Commission of Markets and Competition, or CNMC for short, has started an investigation into Apple’s App Store. The investigation regards potential anti-competitive behavior on Apple’s platforms.

The CNMC started their investigation last week, alleging that Apple may be abusing their dominant position to impose unfair commercial conditions to app developers. This could be in violation of the Spanish Competition Act, as well as Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Apple has traditionally charged a 30% commission on all App Store developers making more than $1 million per year, and a lower 15% commission for smaller developers.

Back in January, Apple announced some alternative terms for EU developers, allowing them to opt in to a lower 10-17% commission (plus 3% if they choose to use the App Store payment processor). There is one caveat however, as there is a core technology fee of €0.50 per user on apps with more than 1 million annual installs if you choose to use those alternative terms.

Apple denied the allegations of unfair commercial conditions in a statement to Reuters. An Apple spokesperson said that “Spanish developers of all sizes compete on a level playing field on the App Store”, and that the company will “continue to work with the Spanish Competition Authority to understand and respond to their concerns”.

Earlier this year, Apple was hit with a $2 billion fine by the European Union, and if Apple is found to have violated the Spanish Competition Act, they could face fines of up to 10% of their profits from the year prior to the fine being imposed.

Despite this investigation launching recently, the CNMC has up to 24 months to investigate Apple and come to a final decision.