Apple’s restrictive App Store policy negatively affects competition and leads to higher prices for developers’ products, according to FAS.
In a statement on Wednesday, FAS said, “Apple is abusing its dominant position in the market for the distribution of apps through its App Store.” The regulator added, Apple did not comply with the warning. Consequently, FAS Russia initiated legal proceedings against Apple concerning its violation of antimonopoly legislation.”
If the U.S. tech giant is found guilty of violating Russia’s Law on the Protection of Competition, it could face a monetary penalty based on its revenue in the country.
Apple changes App Store policy on alternative payment methods
Last month, a federal judge in California ruled that Apple violated the state’s unfair competition law by prohibiting developers from directing users to alternative payment methods.
In her ruling, Judge Yvonne Gonzales Rogers wrote that Apple is “permanently restrained and enjoined from prohibiting developers from including in their apps and their metadata buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms, in addition to In-App Purchasing and (ii) communicating with customers through points of contact obtained voluntarily from customers through account registration within the app.”
