Apple is being accused of stealing by the EU. Apple has been charged by the European Commission for abusing its market advantage in contactless smartphone payments.

US corporation may have infringed competition law by prohibiting rivals from using its “tap and go” technology, according to a preliminary investigation.

Apple has denied the charge and stated that it will cooperate with the Commission.

If they sustain the charges then the company will face a penalty of up to 10% of its global turnover. It was $36.6 billion (£29.2 billion) last year.

“We have indications that Apple restricted third-party access to key technology necessary to develop rival mobile wallet solutions on Apple’s devices,” EU Vice-President Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.

“We preliminarily found that Apple may have restricted competition, to the benefit of its own solution Apple Pay,” the EU official who is in charge of competition policy said.

This Apple’s behaviour, according to the Commission, has an “exclusionary effect” on competitors. It can also “leads to less innovation and less choice for consumers for mobile wallets on iPhones”

In response, the IT behemoth stated that its payment mechanism was just one of many accessible to European customers.

It added that it had “ensured equal access” to mobile payment technology, while “setting industry-leading standards” for privacy and security.

“We designed Apple Pay to provide an easy and secure way for users to digitally present their existing payment cards and for banks and other financial institutions to offer contactless payments for their customers,” the company said in a statement.

“We will continue to engage with the Commission to ensure European consumers have access to the payment option of their choice in a safe and secure environment.”

The EU antitrust regulators claimed their probe had turned up “any evidence” that a more open architecture would pose a “higher security risk”

“On the contrary, evidence on our file indicates that Apple’s conduct cannot be justified by security concerns,” Ms Vestager said.

At the time of the Apple Pay launch, Apple was accused of anti-competitive conduct dating back to 2015.

Over 2,500 European banks accept Apple Pay. Apple handsets account for around a third of the market in Europe. The EU intends to introduce new laws for technology companies next year, as outlined in its Digital Markets Act.

Last year, after competitor business Spotify filed a complaint, EU regulators accused Apple of undermining competition in music streaming markets.

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