CMA wins high court appeal in Apple case

investmentweek.co.uk:

The judgment overturned the Competition Appeal Tribunal's (CAT) March 2023 decision, which upheld an appeal by Apple and put the CMA's investigation on hold.

The judgment overturned the Competition Appeal Tribunal's (CAT) March 2023 decision, which upheld an appeal by Apple and put the CMA's investigation on hold.

The investigation does remain on hold however, pending determination of any application for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA, said: «This ruling gives the CMA the backing it needs to protect consumers and promote competition in UK. As this judgment clearly states, the previous ruling by the CAT would have had ‘serious consequences' for the CMA's ability to investigate potential breaches of the law.»

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On 22 November 2022, the CMA exercised its power under the Enterprise Act 2002 to make a market investigation reference in relation to the market for mobile browsers and cloud gaming.

Apple challenged the decision and sought to quash the probe by appealing to the CAT earlier this year.

The CAT initially determined that the UK watchdog did not have the power to make a market investigation reference if it had previously decided not to do so during a market study into the same matter.

As a result of that finding, the CAT ruled that the CMA's market investigation reference should be quashed.

Commenting on the overturned decision, Cardell said: «We launched this investigation over a year ago in order to make sure that UK consumers get the best services and apps on their mobile phones, and that UK developers can invest in innovative new apps.

»We stand ready to reopen it when the