EU Court gives the Dutch the green light to pursue Apple App Store anti-trust case

• Apple charges 15-30% in commission for payments on the App Store
• The company denied wrongdoing in the country, but the EU just rejected its claim
• EU’s Court of Justice says Netherlands-specific App Store is enough of a reason

The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that Dutch courts do have jurisdiction over a case against Apple’s App Store, brought forward by two Dutch foundations.

They allege that the App Store’s commissions are excessive and anticompetitive, therefore harming Dutch users including both consumers and developers.

Apple has previously argued that the Netherlands lacked jurisdiction because the damage did not happen in the Netherlands, however the European court has now dismissed that argument.

Apple could be in trouble over its App Store in the Netherlands

“The Netherlands courts have jurisdiction to hear a representative action concerning the alleged anticompetitive conduct of Apple in relation to its App Store aimed at the Netherlands market,” the European court noted.

The Court of Justice shared that the Netherlands App Store is specifically designed for the Netherlands market, uses Dutch, and offers apps tailored for Dutch users - which therefore means it would be acceptable for Dutch courts to continue with the case.

Apple also decides its commission of 15% or 30% based on its own scale. The company actively discourages third-party payments and app subscriptions, forcing developers to sacrifice larger percentages of their earnings by means of commission, ultimately pushing up prices for consumers.

“In order to determine the place where the damage occurred, the virtual space constituted by the App Store NL, in which the purchases were made, is the entire territory of that State,” the memo explains.

Apple told Bloomberg (via Verdict) that EU regulators “keep changing the goalposts for what DMA compliance is, making it impossible to comply with their steering decision.” Apple dedicates “hundreds of thousands of hours” to meet Europe’s evolving regulations.

The Cupertino giant still has time to submit a compliance proposal, so the next steps are yet to play out.

TechRadar Pro has asked Apple for its reaction to the ruling – the company did not respond immediately.

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