Consumer protection files complaint with Weko against Apple Pay

SKS managing director Sara Stalder confirmed a corresponding report by Blick to the sda news agency on Wednesday. In the complaint, the SKS calls on the Weko to take a closer look at the market of payment apps. The foundation calls for a level playing field for all providers. The technology must be open to all, it says. It hopes that the Weko does not cower before a market-dominating global corporation, Stalder said. Apple has so far denied other payment app providers like Twint access to the NFC interface. Only Apple Pay is allowed to communicate via Near Field Communication (NFC). Yet this would be the simplest and fastest technology. Holding the cell phone up to the payment terminal is sufficient, and there is no need to open an app or scan a code.

The Weko confirmed on Wednesday that it had received the complaint. The authority is aware of the problem, said Weko Secretariat Deputy Director Olivier Schaller in response to a question. The competition authorities will not initiate proceedings at this time, but will observe how the market develops. Whether Apple could one day be forced by the Weko to release the NFC interface cannot be said at this time, Schaller added. In the event of proceedings being opened, it would have to be examined firstly whether a dominant position existed and secondly whether abusive behavior was involved. If so, the competition authorities would have a number of options open to them to put an end to the behavior that is problematic under competition law, he said.

An end to the monopolization of the NFC interface was also recently called for by Urs Rüegsegger, head of the financial services provider SIX. The group is one of the owners of Twint, along with the five largest Swiss banks and retailers Coop and Migros. "It would also be interesting to hear what the competition authority says about this. We think Apple is obstructing competition here," Rüegsegger told sda last week. He said the proliferation of NFC in Switzerland since the introduction of contactless credit cards shows that ease of use meets a clear customer need. Because of competition from Apple, the two Swiss providers Twint and Paymit had merged at the end of May (Werbewoche.ch reported). The joint solution, which combines the advantages of both systems, will be called Twint. (SDA)