According to 9to5Mac, the Coalition for App Fairness (CAF)—a group founded by companies like Epic Games, Spotify, and Basecamp—is pressing European regulators to reject Apple’s proposed Digital Markets Act (DMA) fee structure. They argue it’s a worse deal for EU developers than the terms emerging from recent US court rulings, specifically a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision that ruled against Apple’s 27% commission on web-based purchases. The CAF claims Apple’s EU plan involves a two-tier scheme with App Store fees up to 20% and additional charges of 5% to 15% on external transactions. This comes six months after the EU fined Apple €500 million for DMA breaches. The group’s director, Rick VanMeter, stated they want the EU Commission to enforce that “free of charge means free of charge” and is prepared to see the issue go to the European Court of Justice.
Europe Gets the Short Straw
Here’s the thing: the CAF has a pretty compelling point. A US court just told Apple its 27% fee for purchases made outside the App Store was too high and essentially unworkable. So now, US developers are in a position to negotiate a lower rate or have a court set one. Meanwhile, in the EU—the region with the actual pro-competition law, the DMA—developers are looking at a labyrinthine fee structure that could still see Apple taking a significant cut of revenue, even on transactions it doesn’t process. It’s a bizarre look. You’d think the region that passed the landmark legislation would get the better deal, right? But it seems like Apple’s compliance calculus is different in each arena: fight the courts in the US, and find the absolute limit of what’s permissible under the DMA in Europe.
A Global Patchwork of Rules
This is where we’re headed: a messy, fragmented global app economy. Developers will need a spreadsheet just to track what fees they owe in which territories. The US has its court-mandated rules. The EU has its DMA rules. Other countries like Japan and South Korea are making their own moves. For a small developer, this administrative nightmare could be a bigger barrier than the fees themselves. Apple, and eventually Google, will become experts at regulatory arbitrage, offering the minimum necessary concession in each market. The real question is whether any regulator has the stomach for the long, technical fight it will take to truly enforce “fairness.” The €500 million EU fine was a start, but if the fees remain high and complex, was it enough?
What Happens Next?
So what does the CAF actually want? They’re asking the European Commission to be as tough, or tougher, than a US federal court. They want the “core technology fee” and the extra charges on external payments scrapped. Basically, they want the spirit of the DMA—breaking Apple’s gatekeeper control—to be fully realized. I think their threat to push this to the European Court of Justice is serious. The Commission probably doesn’t want that lengthy legal battle either, but it might be inevitable. This isn’t just about fees; it’s about which model of digital market regulation will win out. Will it be the case-by-case, slow-moving court system, or the proactive, legislative power of something like the DMA? The next few months in Brussels will tell us a lot. In the meantime, you can follow more tech policy drama on Twitter or YouTube.
