India's antitrust body, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) rejected a request from Apple Inc. to put a hold on the investigation report that revealed the corporation breached competition laws, allowing the ongoing investigation to continue, as reported by Reuters.
The CCI had recalled investigation reports in August this year after Apple alleged that the former had disclosed commercial secrets to competitors, including Tinder-owned Match, in a case dating back to 2021. The corporation said these sensitive information ought to be removed.
The CCI responded by ordering all the concerned parties to return the reports and destroy any left, before issuing new orders.
Following this, Apple, in November, alleged that the Indian non-profit Together We Fight Society (TWFS), the main complainant in the anti-trust investigation, had not complied to the orders of the old investigation reports to be destroyed. The corporation asked the CCI to take against TWFS for the non-compliance with the order and to withhold the revised report.
"Apple's request to hold the investigation report in abeyance was deemed untenable," the CCI said in the order.
The current investigation is based on evidence that Apple used its dominant position in its iOS-run app store that negatively affected app developers, user and payment processors. Apple denied all allegations stating that it is a small player in the Indian market where phones using Google's android OS are dominant.
The CCI's internal order showed that Apple has been asked to submit its audited financial state for fiscal years 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24 under the regulatory guidelines.
Apple has been asked to submit its audited financial state for fiscal years 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, the CCI's internal order showed, in accordance with regulatory rules to ascertain potential financial penalties in the case.
Senior CCI officials are to review the investigation report before making a final call on the case, Reuters reported.