EU Commission scrutinises Apple’s compliance for music streaming order

EU’s Apple scrutiny: The European Commission announced on Monday that it is scrutinising a proposal by Apple to ensure compliance with its directive allowing music streaming services like Spotify to inform users about alternative payment options outside of Apple's App Store. 

The assessment comes in the wake of Apple's announcement last Friday regarding its proposal, which aims to address concerns raised by the EU competition enforcer.

Apple risks facing antitrust charges and additional fines if its proposal fails to meet the expectations of the European Commission, which recently imposed a hefty fine of 1.84 billion euros ($2 billion) alongside its order. Under Apple's proposal, services such as Spotify would be permitted to include links to their websites within their apps, providing users with information on alternative purchasing avenues beyond the App Store.

Additionally, users could provide their email addresses to receive links directing them to the platform's website for purchasing digital content or services. However, transactions made through these links would incur a 27 per cent fee to Apple, including subsequent auto-renewing subscriptions.

A spokesperson for the European Commission stated that they are currently evaluating whether Apple's proposal aligns with the Commission's decision. If any non-compliance is suspected, the Commission may issue a Statement of Objections to the relevant party.

Apple asserts that its plan adheres to the Commission's decision, according to a company representative. Meanwhile, Spotify expressed frustration over the delay in Apple's compliance with the EU order, which has persisted for five weeks.

In addition to this ongoing assessment, the European Commission is also investigating Apple's App Store rules and recent measures introduced by the tech giant to comply with the Digital Markets Act. Concerns have been raised regarding the potential hindrance these measures may pose to developers in freely communicating and promoting their offerings.

(With Reuters inputs)