Russia's FAS fines Apple 1.2 bln rubles in case on app market abuse

Russia's Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) has imposed a fine on U.S. company Apple in a case on abuse in the app market, the service said in a statement.

The fine is 1.2 billion rubles, the statement said. Last July, the regulator, which identified the American company as a violator of the anti-monopoly law, said that the fine would be based on turnover and amount to 0.01%-0.15% of the company's annual revenue in Russia.

The regulator has been conducting a case against Apple since late October 2021. Previously, the service issued a warning to Apple to remove a violation associated with the lack of the ability of users to pay for goods in applications from the App Store product catalog using external links. The conditions of the warning were supposed to be fulfilled before September 30, 2021.

Then the FAS revealed that Apple prohibits developers of iOS-applications from informing customers inside the application of the possibility of payment for purchases outside the App Store. Otherwise, the corporation does not allow applications in the App Store.

At that time, the FAS also emphasized that Apple's actions restrict developers in their independent activities and could result in higher prices for their products.