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ARTICLE · 04 OCTOBER 2010

Commission Closes Preliminary Investigations into Apple's iPhone Policies

SJ Berwin LLP
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The European Commission ("Commission") has announced that it is to close two preliminary investigations into Apple's business practices in relation to the iPhone.

European UnionAntitrust/Competition Law
SJ Berwin'S EU & Competition Team
SJ Berwin'S EU & Competition Team

The European Commission ("Commission") has announced that it is to close two preliminary investigations into Apple's business practices in relation to the iPhone. The announcement follows a change in policy in the EEA by Apple and means that a formal investigation has been averted. 

The two parallel preliminary investigations were opened in spring 2010 following initial concerns that Apple's policies could breach EU competition law:

  • Apple had been applying a "country of purchase" rule which limited repair services to the country where the iPhone had originally been bought. The Commission feared that this could amount to a territorial restriction deterring consumers from buying iPhones in countries other than their country of residence, and may lead to a partitioning of the internal market.

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