European Commission finds Apple in breach of the steering prohibition under Article 5(4) DMA

Our partner Silke Heinz has published an article in the December 2025 issue of WuW on the Commission decision finding that Apple violated Art. 5(4) DMA (Steering) in 2025, and imposing a fine of €500 million, one of the first fines ever under the DMA. (See article (paywall) here).
The Commission inter alia rejected Apple’s approach to comply with mandatory DMA obligations by offering business users the “choice” between its old terms & conditions (undisputedly non-compliant with the DMA) and new terms & conditions (which aimed at complying with the DMA). Turns out that the Commission also considered the new terms & conditions as non-compliant. The decision may well contain lessons for other ongoing DMA non-compliance proceedings.