Federal Court of Justice: Federal Cartel Office may monitor Apple Strenger

It was already foreseeable: The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in Karlsruhe decided in a dispute between the Federal Cartel Office and Apple in the interests of the competitive keepers. The iPhone manufacturer is a company that has an outstanding cross-market importance for the competition, the judges explain in their decision published on Tuesday with the file number KVB 61/23. This means that the Bundeskartellamt can – at least theoretically – prohibit applied business methods – at least theoretically – that, according to the monopoly supervisors, negatively affect the competition.

Still unclear what Apple threatens specifically

Apple had already classified the Federal Cartel Office in 2023 as a company with an outstanding market power. In contrast, the group filed a complaint. However, at the end of January it became apparent at the hearing that the BGH would follow the cartel guards in their argument. The cartel senate now decided that the complaint must be rejected in the first (and also last) instance.

The Bundeskartellamt uses a legal basis of 2021 in its procedure, which facilitates a procedure against technology groups and was created in the reform of the law against restrictions on competition. In order to be able to punish violations, however, a company must first be given an outstanding cross -market importance. In a second step, the actual prohibitions and punishments follow.

Bundeskartellamt against app tracking transparency

A privacy function in iOS is part of Apple's behavior that the German antitrust guards see critically. Developers have had to ask users since 2021 if they want to track them over apps. The so -called App Tracking Transparency (ATT) applies, at least the Federal Cartel Office suspects, but not for Apple itself.

The iPhone group naturally sees it differently. Apple believes that it is even higher than to third-party developers “by giving users the opportunity to decide whether they wish personalized advertising at all”, as was said in February in a statement. Apple fights against and with regulation on several levels: In addition to antitrust authorities from individual countries, large EU proceedings also runs due to possible violations of the digital markets act that applies across Europe.