Description

Issued ruling denying CMA application for an appeal of Competition Appeal Tribunal ruling in favour of Apple

On 3 May 2023, the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) denied the Competition and Markets Authority's (CMA) application for permission to appeal the CAT's 31 March 2023 ruling. In particular, the CAT determined that the CMA's investigation exceeded its powers, given that it was announced outside the time limit of 12 months after a market report was published. After conducting the market inquiry, the CMA announced on 22 November 2022 that it was opening a formal investigation into Apple. In the application for permission to appeal, the CMA stated that it had the general power to investigate markets outside the market study process and claimed that unforeseen delays had occurred and new evidence had been analysed. Given the significance and novelty of the issue, the CMA argued that the investigation was in the public interest. The CAT rejected all of the arguments, stating that the timeframe set by the parliament is legally binding and that there are no legally compelling reasons for the policy concerns raised by the CMA.

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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