EU To Assess Apple’s iPad Compliance Plans

The European Commission said it would assess whether Apple’s iPad operating system complies with the company’s obligations under the Digital Markets Act antitrust rules, as pressure mounts on the regulator to show that it can enforce the landmark legislation.

“The Commission will now carefully assess whether the measures adopted for iPadOS are effective in complying with the DMA obligations,” the Commission said in a statement.

“The Commission’s assessment will also be based on the input of interested stakeholders.”

The Commission in April designated the iPad as a “gatekeeper” device under DMA rules, meaning it must comply with regulations such as users to set their default browser, permitting alternative app stores and allowing headphones and smart pens access to iPadOS features.

Compliance report

On 1 November Apple published a report, as required under the DMA, assessing its own compliance, which will now be reviewed by the Commission.

Violation of the rules can entail fines of up to 10 percent of a company’s annual global turnover, or 20 percent in the case of repeat offences.

In the report, Apple said an update later this year would allow EU users of iOS and iPadOS to delete Apple apps such as App Store, Messages, Camera, Photos and Safari, leaving only Settings and iOS’ Phone app as permanent fixtures.

By the end of the year it plans to roll out a system for importing and exporting data to and from competing browsers, making switching more practical, and is developing a similar solution for importing and exporting data between iOS or iPadOS devices to non-Apple operating systems.

The latter system is planned for release in the autumn of 2025.

EU users will be able to set default navigation and translation apps by the spring of next year, Apple said.

‘Specification proceedings’

The Commission said if the company’s solutions aren’t compliant it will take “formal enforcement action as foreseen in the DMA”.

In September the Commission said it would start “specification proceedings” to “guide” Apple on certain specific areas of DMA compliance.

The move came after the Commission said in June that it believed Apple was in breach of the DMA over its restrictions on the ways it allows App Store developers to communicate with users.

Apple said at the time it was “confident our plan complies with the law”.