UK ends investigation into Google and Apple stores

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The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has closed its investigations into Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store as it prepares to implement new rules that will strengthen its powers to boost competition in digital markets.

The The Wall Street Journal Following the enactment of the UK’s Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Act in May, the CMA said it intends to address competition concerns about big tech’s app stores under a new regulatory regime.

Similar to the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which came into force earlier this year, the legislation gives the CMA new powers to foster competition and set requirements for companies with a strategic market position for digital activities.

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“When the new pro-competition regime for digital markets comes into force, we will be able to apply these new powers to concerns we have already identified in our ongoing work,” said Will Hayter, CMA managing director for digital markets.

The new rules would allow the CMA to look at competition issues more comprehensively than was possible under the old regulatory framework if Apple, Google or both were designated as having a strategic market position, Hayter explained.

The CMA attempted to identify antitrust practices

• The CMA has launched an investigation into whether Google and Apple are using their dominant positions in the Play Store and App Store respectively to impose unfair and competitively harmful terms on app developers.
• The UK authority rejected Google’s proposals in response to its competition concerns, saying it was not satisfied with the promises it had made, which did not effectively address the issues.
• According to the CMA, Google has proposed allowing app developers to use alternative payment methods to Google Play’s billing system.