ACM postpones the enforcement of its decision against Apple for now

The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) postpones for now the enforcement of its decision regarding the commission that Apple charges providers of dating apps. The reason for this is that the European Commission and Apple are holding discussions about Apple’s fees based on the DMA. One element of these discussions also concerns Apple’s commission to which ACM’s decision relates. Apple has filed an appeal with the Dutch Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal (CBb), which is the highest administrative court in the Netherlands, against the previous ruling handed down by the District Court of Rotterdam regarding ACM’s desicion. That is why ACM has decided to postpone enforcement of its order subject to periodic penalty payments regarding Apple’s commission until six weeks after the CBb’s ruling.

On June 16, 2025, the District Court of Rotterdam confirmed ACM’s decision from 2021 that Apple abused its dominant position by imposing unreasonable conditions on dating app providers in the App Store. ACM also imposed an order subject to periodic penalty payments on Apple to put an end to the condition that dating app providers had to pay Apple commissions of 30 percent (or 15 percent for smaller providers) for the use of Apple’s payment system. ACM has decided to postpone enforcement of this part for now. However, in 2022 already, Apple did comply with ACM’s order regarding two other App Store conditions.

The proceedings regarding Apple’s appeal filed with the CBb are still ongoing.