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Brazilian regulators have reached a settlement with Apple after a yearslong investigation into the company's App Store fee practices as well as its policies against third-party app stores. As first reported by Brazilian tech site tecnoblog, the nation's Administrative Council of Economic Defense (CADE) said it has accepted Apple's proposed agreement that will address claims of anticompetitive practices.
The agreement will allow for third-party payment processing methods for in-app purchases and reins in Apple's anti-steering efforts by allowing links to external websites for transactions. The settlement requires that these payment options be shown next to Apple's own. Apple must also allow third-party app stores to be installed on its devices, though the company is allowed to display warnings to users if they are written in a neutral and objective way.
A new fee structure has also been agreed to, with Apple applying no fee if users are directed to outside payment methods in a text-only way. The use of a clickable link or button for an external payment option will incur a 15 percent fee. Purchases made within Apple's App Store will still be subject to a 10 percent or 20 percent commission. Developers using Apple's payment system would also be subject to a 5 percent transaction fee.
Additionally a 5 percent "Core Technology Fee" would be levied against all app downloads from third-party app stores. This new structure bears similarities to policy and fee
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