Letter from Piero Cipollone to Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for Internal Market, on feedback on commitments offered by Apple over access restrictions to near-field communication technology

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Friday, April 19, 2024

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effective response to these concerns would support competition, foster innovation and increase choice for
consumers with mobile wallets on their iPhones.
We note that Apple?s proposed commitments would not give third parties full access to the secure element (SE),
but only allow for the usage of Host Card Emulation (HCE).
If the proposed commitments
would also be applicable to a potential digital euro, they would not, per se, guarantee that digital euro payments
made using iPhones were seamless and user-friendly.
Crucially, access to the SE is vital for mobile device based offline digital euro payments.
3 4 Therefore, Apple?s
proposed commitments, which do not provide full access to the SE of iOS smart phones, would not facilitate
offline payments with digital euro on iPhones.
We understand that the Commission?s antitrust investigation, and Apple?s proposed commitments on access to
NFC technology, are limited to in-store payments with iOS smart phones.
As a result, the ability of merchants to accept payments with Apple devices other than
through ApplePay might be limited.
9
An effective implementation of Article 33 on FRAND access to a series of mobile devices is of paramount importance for the offline variant
of the digital euro.