due to anti-competitive behavior, France previously issued a fine of 1.1 billion euros to Apple, and now a French court has reduced the fine to 372 million euros (366 million U.S. dollars).
France cuts Apple antitrust fine to $366 million by two-thirds
In 2020, the French antitrust agency issued a huge fine to Apple for anti-competitive monopolistic behavior in Apple’s distribution and retail network.
Apple forces sellers to comply with price arrangements, and their pricing must be consistent with Apple Stores or Apple’s online store. The appellate judge agreed with some of the antitrust agency’s allegations, such as the fact that sellers are financially dependent on Apple and that Apple is abusing that dependence, people familiar with the matter said.
Also, the figure chosen by the antitrust agency to calculate the overall fine was relatively high, and the court lowered the rate.
Apple responded: “While the court overturned part of the French Competition Authority’s decision, which is undoubtedly correct, Apple believes it should be overturned in full, so we will continue to appeal.” Apple also said that the regulator gave ‘s conclusions relate to behavior more than a decade ago that even the regulators themselves admit to no longer exist.