European Commission informed Apple about another potential violation of EU rules — this time in terms of geo-blocking of the App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV+, etc.
The European Commission’s announcement comes after a «coordinated investigation» conducted by the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network, which revealed a «number of restrictions» from Apple that «unlawfully discriminate against European consumers based on their place of residence».
In fact, the main problem is that Apple does not allow customers to use cards whose billing address is different from the country of the store for payment. Other limitations include different program interfaces for different EU/EEA countries, as well as blocking access to versions of other countries, which causes problems for customers when traveling, among other things.
The list of services that use geo-blocking includes the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, iCloud, Game Center, Apple Sports, and others.
Apple has a month to respond to the complaints and propose solutions to the identified geo-blocking practices — otherwise, the EU will resort to «coercive methods».
A week earlier, Bloomberg reported that the EU was preparing to fine Apple for «anti-competitive rules» in the App Store — up to a maximum of $38 billion. The company also has paid EUR 13 billion in unpaid taxes to the EU (Tim Cook even allegedly called Donald Trump to complain about fines imposed on his company) and faces an investigation into the rules, introduced for alternative applications.