India’s regulator rejects Apple’s request to stop antitrust report Reuters
Written by Aditya Kalra
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s antitrust body has rejected a request from Apple (NASDAQ: ) to withhold an investigation report that found the company violated competition laws, allowing the case to proceed, an internal order from the regulator seen by Reuters showed.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) in August ordered the return of investigation reports after Apple said the watchdog disclosed trade secrets to competitors in a case dating back to 2021, including Tinder-owner Match. These features should have been redone.
The CCI had asked the parties to return the reports and destroy any copies. The administrator then issued new reports.
The CCI’s internal order showed that Apple in November accused the main complainant in the antitrust investigation – the Indian non-profit Together We Fight Society (TWFS) – did not comply with the instructions to provide assurance that the old investigation reports had been dismissed.
Apple asked the CCI “to take action against TWFS for non-compliance with its order” and “withhold a revised report”, the CCI order, dated Nov. 13, seen by Reuters.
“Apple’s request to withhold the investigation report is considered invalid,” the CCI said in the order.
Apple did not respond to questions from Reuters.
CCI did not respond outside regular business hours on Sunday. Calls to TWFS representatives were not returned.
The CCI investigation found that Apple exploited its dominant position in the app store market for its iOS operating system to the detriment of app developers, users and other payment processors.
Apple has denied wrongdoing and said it is a small player in India where phones running Google’s (NASDAQ: ) Android system dominate.
The CCI’s internal order also indicated that Apple has been asked to submit its audited financial statements for the financial years 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24 under regulatory guidelines aimed at determining possible monetary penalties in this case.
Senior CCI officials will review the investigation report and take a final decision on the case.
