August 13th 2024.
The Competition Commission of India has made a rare move by recalling the investigation report on Apple's alleged anti-competitive practices. This decision was made in order to protect the legal rights of all parties involved, as concerns were raised by Apple that confidential information related to their business was included in the report that was sent to the involved parties. Upon being contacted, the Secretary of the Competition Commission, Inder Pal Singh Bindra, stated that this recall was simply a procedural measure to ensure the protection of everyone's legal rights.
Sources have revealed that the regulator has requested the Director General to remove any confidential business information from the non-confidential version of the report. According to the competition law, the regulator has the authority to order a detailed probe by its Director General if there is evidence of potential violations by a company. Once the probe report is submitted to the CCI, the non-confidential version is shared with the company and other involved parties for their responses. After receiving these responses, the CCI will proceed with the final hearing and ultimately issue their final order on the case.
In response to inquiries about the reasons behind the regulator's decision to recall the investigation report, as well as whether any confidential details were inadvertently included in the report, the Secretary clarified that this recall was simply a procedural measure and no new investigation has been ordered. Sources have revealed that the non-confidential report sent to the parties involved did contain some confidential business information from Apple, which prompted the company to file a complaint. As a result, the CCI decided to recall the probe report.
Apple has yet to respond to requests for comments on this matter. Earlier, the CCI had asked for a reply from the company regarding the investigation report, which found that Apple had potentially violated competition norms with regards to their App Store. A supplementary investigation report by the DG has since concluded that Apple had abused its market dominance in the relevant market, violating various provisions of the competition law.
This decision to order a detailed probe against Apple was made in December 2021, after the CCI found evidence of potential market abuse by the company. However, sources have revealed that the regulator was not satisfied with the initial report submitted by the DG and requested further investigation on specific aspects. The supplementary investigation report was then submitted to the CCI in June. In their order from December 2021, the CCI had stated that Apple's App Store is the only channel for app developers to distribute their apps to iOS consumers, as it is pre-installed on all iPhones and iPads.
Furthermore, the company's guidelines and agreements prohibit third-party app stores from being listed on the App Store, effectively eliminating any potential competition. This limitation on app stores for iOS results in a denial of market access for potential app distributors and violates competition norms, according to the CCI. The regulator also noted that these practices restrict the technical development of app store services and limit the pressure on Apple to continuously innovate and improve their own App Store, which is also a violation of competition rules.
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