Description

Issued ruling by Competition Appeal Tribunal in favour of Apple against Competition and Markets Authority

On 31 March 2023, the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) released a judgement ruling in favour of Apple in a review of the decision by the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to open an investigation into Apple and Google’s “effective duopoly” over mobile browser and cloud gaming services through app stores. The CAT ruled that the CMA’s investigation was beyond the CMA's powers ("ultra vires") given it was announced outside the time limit of 12 months after a market report was published, as stipulated in Section 131 of the 2002 Enterprise Act. The CMA first published a market study on mobile ecosystems on 15 June 2021 and issued a final report on 10 June 2022. On 22 November 2022, the CMA announced its formal investigation into Apple and Google’s possible restrictions on competition in the browser and gaming market through their app stores. The CMA has stated that it would appeal the CAT's decision.

Original source

Scope

Policy Area
Competition
Policy Instrument
Unilateral conduct regulation
Regulated Economic Activity
software provider: app stores
Implementation Level
national
Government Branch
judiciary
Government Body
court

Complete timeline of this policy change

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2022-06-10
in consultation

On 10 June 2022, the United Kingdom Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened a consultation o…

2022-07-22
processing consultation

On 22 July 2022, the United Kingdom Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) closed the consultation…

2022-11-22
under deliberation

On 22 November 2022, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced the launch of a marke…

2023-03-31
under investigation

On 31 March 2023, the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) released a judgement ruling in favour of…

2023-05-03
in force

On 3 May 2023, the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) denied the Competition and Markets Authorit…

2023-05-17
under appeal

On 17 May 2023, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) applied to the Court of Appeal for perm…

2023-06-09
under investigation

On 9 June 2023, the UK's Court of Appeal granted the Competition and Market Authority's (CMA) reque…

2023-11-30
in force

On 30 November 2023, the Court of Appeal issued a verdict supporting the Competition and Markets Au…

2024-11-22
in consultation

On 22 November 2024, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) issued its provisional findings…

2024-12-13
processing consultation

On 13 December 2024, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) closed the consultation on its …

2025-02-19
under investigation

On 19 February 2025, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published a report summarising the…

2025-03-12
in force

On 12 March 2025, the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) independent inquiry group published…

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