The General Superintendence of the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (SG/Cade) opened administrative proceedings against Apple this Monday to investigate suspicions of abuse of a dominant position in the application distribution market, according to a complaint filed in 2022 by Mercado Livre.
The body also determined that Apple must preventively comply with a series of measures that include allowing developers to indicate other application stores besides the App Store to their users and that they are not forced to accept the terms of Apple’s payment system.
If the company does not comply with the measures, the Cade Superintendence states that Apple will be subject to a fine of 250 thousand reais per day.
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Cade’s Superintendence stated that “a preventive measure was granted to put an end to the anti-competitive effects of the investigated practice”.
According to Mercado Livre’s complaint, Apple’s rules prevent the offering of video and music streaming services, among others, from companies that compete with the North American company in these segments.
When contacted, Apple in Brazil did not respond.
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Apple’s policies have been challenged in almost every market around the world in recent years. In mid-2024, Fortnite video game producer Epic complained that Apple was delaying the launch of the company’s app store in Europe for iPhone and iPad users.
“Anti-competitive conduct arises from the application of several provisions contained in the Terms & Conditions (T&Cs) imposed by Apple to regulate the functioning of its operating system for mobile devices, iOS”, stated the Cade Superintendency in a note.
“In this sense, SG/Cade is investigating whether these conducts have the potential to close the national markets for app distribution, distribution of digital goods and services and purchase processing systems in iOS operating system apps,” added the body.
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Apple will also have to provide the Brazilian market within 20 days with “mechanisms and tools to provide… additional app distribution options and payment processing systems”, stated the competition protection body.
The measures determined by Cade’s Superintendence are valid “until the final decision on the merits” by the antitrust body.
