The ACM in 2021 fined the firm 50 million euros ($53 million) for failure to abide by changes it had ordered to Apple’s app store to stop practices it said breached EU antitrust laws

The Dutch regulator is challenging the fees that Apple charges dating app providers in the Netherlands as part of its long-running case against the U.S. technology giant over the dominance of its app store, according to a filing.

Bloomberg News reported on the filing earlier on Tuesday.

Although the case is restricted to dating apps in the Netherlands, it is seen as having potential to set a precedent for other markets.

The Netherlands’ Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) in 2021 fined the firm 50 million euros ($53 million) for failure to abide by changes it had ordered to Apple’s app store to stop practices it said breached EU antitrust laws.

Apple denied wrongdoing and appealed the fines in a case still before a Rotterdam Court. Apple did agree to make changes to the app store including opening it to other forms of payment for dating apps in the country.

In February 2022 Apple cut commissions for dating app makers in the Netherlands to 27% from 30%. The Authority for Consumers and Markets never stated whether it believed that was a satisfactory change.

This month, the ACM published a summary of its rebuttals to Apple objections dated July 13, 2023, noting there was one remaining dispute it could not reveal publicly for legal reasons.

As per the ACM’s fuller July 13 arguments now seen by Reuters, the undisclosed dispute was over commissions.

Apple harms dating app providers by charging them an additional and inexplicably higher fee for the same services it charges other types of app makers, the agency stated in the document.

A spokeswoman for the ACM said on Tuesday the agency cannot comment while the case is subjudice. No decision date has been set.