移动应用分发平台滥用规则行为的反垄断法规制——以苹果公司App Store垄断案为例

Antitrust Regulation of Rule Abuse by Mobile Application Distribution Platforms——Take the Apple App Store Monopolization Case as an Example

新修订的《反垄断法》新增禁止经营者利用平台规则从事滥用市场支配地位行为的条款。以移动应用分发平台为例,其平台规则受到越来越多的竞争关注。美国、欧盟等均对在iOS设备应用分发市场占据支配地位的苹果公司发起反垄断调查。苹果公司针对付费应用和应用内付费数字内容收取最高达30%的佣金涉嫌构成不公平高价;强制使用自营应用内购买系统且附加“反转向条款”涉嫌构成附加不合理的交易条件;对竞争应用收取高额佣金、操纵App Store搜索排名、强制下架竞争应用、不当利用竞争应用的非公开信息涉嫌构成自我优待。我国反垄断执法机构应持续追踪域外相关执法动态,做好移动应用分发市场的竞争状况评估,推进常态化监管;及时精准认定利用平台规则实施的滥用行为,并设计有效的救济措施,强化反垄断监管;推动构建平台事前规制制度,要求移动应用分发平台提高运营透明度,实现全链条监管。

The newly amended Anti-Monopoly Law has added a new provision prohibiting operators from using platform rules to engage in abusive market dominance behavior.Taking mobile application distribution platforms as an example,their platform rules are subject to increasing competition concerns.The United States,the European Union and others have launched antitrust investigations into Apple,which holds a dominant position in the application distribution market for iOS devices.Apple is suspected of charging commissions of up to 30%for paid apps and in-app paid digital content,which constitutes unfair high price;mandating the use of its own in-app purchase system and attaching"anti-steering clause",which constitutes unreasonable trading condition;and charging high commissions for competing apps,manipulating the search rankings of the App Store,forcibly taking down competing apps,and improperly utilizing non-public information from competing apps are suspected of constituting self-preferencing.China's anti-monopoly enforcement agency should continue to track the relevant enforcement developments outside of China and assess the competition situation in the domestic mobile application distribution market in order to promote regularized supervision;identify abusive behaviors using platform rules in a timely and accurate manner and design effective remedies to strengthen anti-monopoly supervision;promote the construction of an ex-ante regulatory system for platforms and require mobile application distribution platforms to improve operational transparency in order to achieve full-chain supervision.