By Anne-France White - 2nd April 2007
The European commission has launched an antitrust probe into Apple’s iTunes music store.
A spokesman for EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes confirmed that Brussels has sent Apple a formal “statement of objections” over concerns that the sale of music through iTunes flouts EU antitrust regulations.
The commission is worried that iTunes could be breaching competition rules by preventing consumers in one country from downloading songs less expensively from the Apple internet store in another country.
“Consumers are thus restricted in their choice of where to buy music and consequently what music is available, and at what price,” the commission said in a statement.
“For example, in order to buy a music download from the iTunes' Belgian online store a consumer must use a credit card issued by a bank with an address in Belgium,” the statement added.
Research by UK organisation Which? found that UK users paid €1.16 euros to download a song compared with €0.99 in France and Germany.
Apple now has two months to answer questions issued in the commission’s letter.
If found guilty of violating EU competition rules, the company could face hefty fines which in theory could add up to 10 per cent of the company's worldwide annual turnover.
Meanwhile EU consumer protection chief Meglena Kuneva said "something has to change" in Apple's present system, under which tracks bought on iTunes work only on iPods.
Kuneva recently announced that she is planning to step up consumer protection for online transactions.
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