The Competition Agency of France imposed a fine of €1.1 billion this month on the tech giant Apple. “This French Agency is an independent administrative authority responsible for fighting against the anti-competitive practice and studying the functioning of markets”. As per the Agency, Apple is responsible for the price-fixing of some Apple products between two of its retailers. And this anti-competition practice is illegal.
As a penalty, Apple has to pay a huge amount of € 1.1 billion. It is the highest amount of fine issued by the Competition Agency of France. The two retailers of Apple, Tech Data and Ingram Micro also faced fines as because they are the parts of this malpractice. The amounts are worth €76.1 million and €62.9 million respectively.
The President of the French Competition Agency said, “Apple and its two wholesalers agreed not to compete and prevent distributors from competing with each other, thereby sterilizing the wholesale market for Apple products.”
“The French Competition Authority’s decision is disheartening. It relates to practices from over a decade ago and discards 30 years of legal precedent that all companies in France rely on with an order that will cause chaos for companies across all industries. We strongly disagree with them and plan to appeal.” A spokesperson for Apple to CNBC.
For the official statement by The Competition Agency of France click HERE.
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