Apple could face legal action over the its third-party app tracking agreements in Germany after a high court ruled the company should be subject to additional scrutiny.
The US company will be subject to “extended abuse control” rules under the German Competition Act (GWB) after the Federal Court of Justice ruled with the country’s cartel office that Apple was a “company of paramount cross-market significance for competition.”
Citing the “closely interlinked” Apple ecosystem, the court said: “Because Apple's activities are crucial for third parties' access to procurement and sales markets, Apple has considerable influence over their business activities.
“External app developers and other third-party companies rely on Apple's support to gain access to the large number of Apple device users.”
As a result, Apple will now be subject to the “special abuse controls”, joining Meta, Google and Microsoft as a company subject to Section 19a of the GWB.
This means the manufacturer could see legal action by the cartel office after it found the App Tracking Transparency Framework required by Apple for all App Store apps would likely fall foul of Section 19a rules.
As the cartel office, or Bundeskartellamt, puts it, app store providers are required to gain additional consent from users “before gaining access to certain data for advertising purposes.
“However, the strict requirements under the ATTF only apply to third-party app providers, not to Apple itself. In the Bundeskartellamt’s preliminary view, this may be prohibited under the special abuse control.”
See also: Microsoft gets das boot in Germany as local gov opts for Libre Office
For Apple’s part, it told press it disagreed with the court’s decision and claimed to face “fierce competition” in Germany, saying the ruling “discounts the value of a business model that puts user privacy and security at its core.”
Potential for legal proceedings is not only another thorn in the side for Apple’s European operations but could also further sour relations between US big tech firms and regulators on this side of the ocean.
Last week Apple reportedly began closed door high court hearings against the UK government after pulling its highest level iCloud encryption tool in the country to avoid orders to create a “backdoor” for authorities.
Meanwhile the EU is also considering fines for Apple, Meta and Google over potential breaches of its own competition laws, all while European tech companies ask for more support.
Add in President Trump’s unforgiving, and often unpredictable, tariffs against European industries and it’s all getting a little tense for cross-Atlantic tech relations.
