European Union: Opened Consultation on the Proposed Commitments from Apple following the Investigation into practices related to Apple Pay

On 19 January 2024, the European Commission opened a consultation until 17 February 2024 on the proposed commitments from Apple following the investigation into Apple's practices related to access restrictions to the Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology used for contactless payments with mobile devices. On 2 May 2022, the Commission announced that Apple had violated competition laws by restricting access to mobile NFC technology on its devices to its own payment solution, Apple Pay. This prevented other mobile wallet app developers from offering NFC payments. Apple has agreed to address the Commission's competition concerns by providing third-party mobile wallet and payment service providers with access to NFC functionality on iOS devices through APIs, free of charge, and without requiring the use of Apple's proprietary services. These commitments will apply to all third-party mobile wallet app developers in the European Economic Area (EEA) and iOS users with an Apple ID registered in the EEA, enabling these apps to be used for payments both within and outside the EEA. Furthermore, Apple will provide additional features such as the ability to select a default payment app and access via FaceID. They will also maintain transparent criteria for granting NFC access and establish an independent dispute resolution mechanism for NFC access-related decisions. The commitments would remain in force for 10 years, with their enforcement being overseen by a supervisory trustee. This trustee would provide regular updates to the Commission regarding the progress of the commitments' implementation.