Apple will try to sway European Union antitrust officials at a closed-door hearing on Friday against pushing forward with a potential fine or order against app restrictions in a probe sparked by music-streaming service Spotify.
The Commission is in the final leg of a three-year probe into the tech giant over rules for app developers that sell their services on Apple’s App Store. Apple takes a cut of some subscriptions sold on the store that some developers complain is unfair.
The hearing comes just days before Big Tech giants must notify themselves as gatekeepers that can govern access to key digital services and shortly after EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said she may leave her post before the end of her mandate to run for the top job at the European Investment Bank.
Apple will spend several hours laying out its defense against a February statement of objections, two people involved in the case told POLITICO. European Commission officials will attend the hearing and both Spotify and consumer group BEUC will have the chance to state their views.
The Commission revised its charges this year to refocus on Apple’s “anti-steering requirements” that restrict how app developers can tell users how to avoid buying a subscription on the App Store and paying the fee to Apple.
Apple has been a high-profile target for Vestager, who ordered the company to pay back billions of euros in tax after she ruled its tax arrangements with Ireland illegal. Apple overturned that order in an embarrassing court defeat for the Commission in 2020 that is now waiting for a top court appeal.
The company is also likely to be a focus of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) which will set tight rules for gatekeeper companies and requirements including allowing rival app stores on their platforms, something Apple has said could harm security. Companies have a July 3 deadline to notify themselves under the DMA before the Commission decides in September which companies and services it sees as falling under the rules.
Apple also faces several EU antitrust cases, the most advanced being an investigation into Apple Pay that had a hearing in February.
A hearing is typically the final part of a company’s defense before the Commission moves to draft a final decision, often with a fine or an order for a company to change its behavior.
The Friday hearing is scheduled for an unusually early start at 8 a.m. and is due to run until 7 p.m.
