In recent years, Apple has found itself in the crosshairs of the European Commission several times and is now also being investigated by the Swiss Competition Commission (SCC).
This has to do with accessing NFC on iPhones. Apple began allowing third-party access to its NFC chip last year, after an initial rollout in the EU. But if you want to use the iPhone’s NFC chip you need to enter into a commercial agreement with Apple and pay the required fee, and that’s exactly what the SCC is investigating.
The SCC is looking into whether Apple’s terms and conditions for granting this access could raise competition law concerns in Switzerland. The SCC “seeks to clarify whether other mobile payment app providers can actually compete with Apple Pay for contactless payments with iOS devices in stores.”
Interestingly, the SCC states that Apple’s terms and conditions for granting access to NFC to third parties “differ from those applicable in the European Economic Area (EEA).” However, this is only a preliminary investigation and it is unclear how long it will take. We’ll let you know when we know more.
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