Apple’s bid to pause India’s anti-trust probe rejected by Competition Commission, case to continue. See details | Company Business News-OxBig News Network

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has rejected tech giant Apple’s request to pause an antitrust investigation against it, according to a Reuters report, citing the antitrust body’s internal order on the matter. The probe will thus continue.

“Apple’s request to hold the investigation report in abeyance was deemed untenable,” the CCI said in the order.

Apple, CCI and NGO Together We Fight Society (TWFS), the main complainant in its antitrust case, did not respond to questions, the report added.

What Happened?

The CCI in August recalled investigation reports after Apple alleged that these documents disclosed its commercial secrets to competitors including Match (Tinder’s parent), as per Reuters. The documents were regarding a 2021 case and had elements that should not have been distributed.

As such the watchdog asked parties involved to return the reports and destroy any copies, following which it issued new reports.

Later in November, an internal order from the CCI showed that Apple argued that TWFS, the main complainant in its antitrust case, had failed to comply with CCI directives that asked for assurance that copies of the recalled reports were destroyed. It asked the regulator to take action against the non-compliance and “withhold the revised” report, Reuters said.

The Case

The CCI in its probe determined that Apple used its market dominance to position itself better than competitors in app stores on its iOS operating system, the report said. This was done to the detriment of app developers, users and other payment processors, it added.

Meanwhile, Apple has called itself a “small player” in India pointing to the prevalance of Google’s Android system and denied breaking anti-competitition laws. 

The CCI internal order also showed that Apple has been asked to submit its audited financial statements for FY21-22, FY22-23, and FY23-24 under regulatory guidelines aimed at determining possible monetary penalties in the case. Senior officials at the regulator are expected to review the investigation report and make a final ruling on the case.

(With inputs from Reuters)