Apple’s iPad will be subject to tough EU competition rules

Apple’s iPad will face heightened regulation in the European Union after officials labeled its operating system Monday as a key gatekeeper technology under EU competition law.

The European Commission’s formal designation of iPadOS subjects it to tough rules applied to only a handful of other digital platforms controlled by the likes of Amazon, Google and Microsoft.

The stricter regulations require, for example, that the iPad not restrict third-party companies from accessing Apple services. And they prohibit Apple from giving its own services preferential treatment on the iPad compared to those offered by competitors. Violations can lead to hefty fines of up to 10% of a company’s global annual revenue. That could mean tens of billions of dollars in potential fines for Apple, which reported $383.3 billion in revenue last year.

Apple is already subject to European gatekeeper obligations on iOS and in its app store and browser. But this move, telegraphed last fall when the European Commission launched a study of iPadOS, puts even more of the technology giant’s business under the EU’s microscope.

Apple will have six months to comply with the new iPad-related obligations.

In a statement, Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission’s top competition official, said iPadOS didn’t meet the statutory size or revenue thresholds that typically qualify a platform for gatekeeper status.

Still, she said, “iPadOS constitutes an important gateway on which many companies rely to reach their customers.”

“The Digital Markets Act is a dynamic tool which allows us to tackle the realities of digital markets,” Vestager added.

“We will continue to constructively engage with the European Commission to comply with the DMA, across all designated services,” Apple said in a statement. “Our focus will remain on delivering the very best products and services to our European customers, while mitigating the new privacy and data security risks the DMA poses for our users.”

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