European Union: Court of Justice clarified Member State courts have both international and territorial jurisdiction over anticompetitive digital pricing practices affecting users domiciled within State borders

On 2 December 2025, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) clarified that Member State courts have both international and territorial jurisdiction over anticompetitive digital pricing practices affecting users domiciled within their State borders under EU Regulation 1215/2012. The court of a Member State has jurisdiction over conduct aimed at users established within its borders, even when the precipitating actions of harm occurred abroad. It also means that the fact of the event occurring for users in different territories within a State does not preclude a territorial court from hearing a collective case on behalf of all such users. The case concerns a Dutch lawsuit against Apple, wherein civil actions were brought forward on behalf of Dutch citizens who paid allegedly inflated prices for apps purchased from the Apple Store. Apple, which controls developer access to the consumer base for users of all Apple products through its App Store, charges a commission on the sale price paid for all such apps. The plaintiffs argue that this commission was unjustly passed on to the consumer and brought the case to the Amsterdam District Court on behalf of all users who purchased third-party apps in the Netherlands version of the App Store. EU Regulation 1215/2012 states that "a person domiciled in a Member State may be sued in another Member State... in the courts for the place where the harmful event occurred or may occur." Apple countered that the Amsterdam District Court had neither international nor territorial jurisdiction over the case, because the “allegedly harmful event” (the commission) did not occur in the Netherlands or in Amsterdam, particularly.