Apple has lost an appeal in Germany’s highest civil court, the Federal Court of Justice, to escape being classified as having significant market power, meaning it will continue to face tailored antitrust rules in the major European market.

The decision comes after Germany’s Federal Cartel Office (FCO) applied the rules to Apple in April 2023, adding it to a list that also includes Google, Facebook parent Meta and Microsoft.

The court backed the FCO’s designation of Apple as a “company of paramount cross-market significance for competition”.

‘Solid foundation’

Apple said in an emailed statement that it disagreed with the ruling and faces tough competition in Germany.

It argued the ruling “discounts the value of a business model that puts user privacy and security at its core”.

Andreas Mundt, president of the FCO, said he was pleased by the decision and that the ruling would support the agency’s ongoing investigations.

“This means that our ongoing review of Apple’s tracking rules for third-party app providers is based on a solid foundation, and we are working vigorously on this as well as on other cases against the major digital companies,” Mundt said.

The FCO said in February that it suspects Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework amounts to self-preferencing, in the latest move in a probe that beganin June 2022.

App tracking probe

The app tracking system was introduced to iPhones and other Apple devices in a 2021 update, barring apps from tracking users unless they consent through pop-up alerts, to the dismay of advertising giants such as Facebook.

The FCO’s finding suggested that Apple could be forced to apply the same rules to its own data collection for advertising purposes that it applies to third parties.

Apple and other large tech companies are also facing pressure from the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which like the German rules were brought in to restrict the power of dominant companies and increase competition and consumer choice.