FAS RUSSIA FINED APPLE $12 MILLION US DOLLARS

On April 26, 2021, the FAS Russia imposed on Apple Inc. a turnover fine of 906,299,392.16 rubles (over $12 million) for violating antimonopoly legislation*.

In August 2020, the FAS Russia completed the consideration of the antitrust case against Apple. It was initiated at the request of Kaspersky Lab JSC.

It was found that Apple abused its dominant position in the distribution of mobile applications on the iOS operating system through a series of consecutive actions that resulted in a competitive advantage for its own products and at the same time worsened the distribution conditions for competing "parental control" applications.

The FAS Russia also established that the provisions of the Apple`s terms contain the unlimited discretion of the defendant, which may lead to restriction of competition in adjacent markets.

The regulator has issued remedies to Apple, which require the company to remove from its terms provisions that give it the right to reject (not allow) third-party applications in the App Store for any reason, even if they meet all the requirements.
The remedies also require Apple to ensure that in-house apps do not take precedence over third-party apps and provide for “parental control” apps developers the ability to distribute their applications in the App Store without losing critical functionality.
At present, the execution of the remedies of the antimonopoly authority has been suspended in connection with an appeal in court.

For reference:

 *Under paragraph 2 of Article 14.31 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation, the commission by an economic entity that dominates a commodity market of the actions deemed abuse of dominance and inadmissible under the antimonopoly legislation of the Russian Federation, if the result of such actions is or can be the commission by a natural monopoly entity of the actions deemed abuse of dominance and inadmissible under the antimonopoly legislation of the Russian Federation, except for the cases envisaged by Article 9.21 of the present Code shall cause the imposition of an administrative fine on legal entities from one hundredth to 15 hundredths of the sum of offender's proceeds from the sale of commodity (work or service) on whose market the administrative offence has been committed but not exceeding one fiftieth of the aggregate sum of the offender's proceeds from the sale of all commodities (works or services) and not below 100,000 roubles, and if the sum of the offender's sum of proceeds from the sale of the commodity (work or service) on whose market the administrative offence has been committed exceeds 75 per cent of the aggregate sum of the offender's proceeds from the sale of all commodities (works or services) or the administrative offence has been committed on a market of the commodities (works or services) sold at prices (tariffs) regulated in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, at a rate from three thousandths to three hundredths of the sum of the offender's proceeds from the sale of the commodity (work or service) on whose market the administrative offence has been committed but not exceeding one fiftieth of the aggregate sum of the offender's proceeds from the sale of all commodities (works or services) and not below 100,000 roubles.