Anticompetitive practices by Apple: the French fine is reduced to 372 million euros

The Paris Court of Appeal lowered the amount of the fine imposed on Apple by the Competition Authority in 2020 for unlawful agreement with distributors and abuse of economic dependence to 372 million euros, against 1.1 billion euros in the first instance.

According to information from Reuters, the court decided to reduce the fine after dismissing one of the three main complaints against Apple. The court also lowered the rate that had been used in 2020 to set the amount of the fine.

The amount of 1.1 billion euros was at the time the largest fine ever imposed by the French regulator on an individual company and against which Apple had appealed. Two years ago, the Competition Authority accused the manufacturer of having “misused” the economic dependence of certain distributors on it, “by subjecting them to unfair and unfavorable commercial conditions in relation to its network of integrated distributors”.

Here is what Apple said in 2020 when announcing the first sanction:

The decision of the French Competition Authority is discouraging. It concerns practices dating back more than ten years and rejects 30 years of legal precedents that all French companies rely on, with an order that will cause chaos for companies in all sectors. We strongly disagree with this decision and plan to appeal.