Apple has been threatened with the temporary closure of its operations in Italy, and with fines of up to 300,000 euros ($377,500) if it doesn’t begin offering customers a free two-year warranty as demanded by Italian law.
Reuters, via MacDailyNews:
Italy’s AGCM competition and market authority has already imposed fines of 900,000 euros on divisions of Apple, which offers a paid technical support service, for failing to tell customers about their rights to free assistance.
Months after the previous fine, Apple has still failed to comply with the antitrust request, the watchdog group said. The company offers a free one-year warranty, which can be extended for a fee.
The AGCM said in its monthly bulletin that Apple was still following unfair commercial practices in Italy, and stated that this could eventually lead to the closure of Apple’s Italian operations for up to 30 days.
Apple has 30 days to respond.
The AGCM alleges that Apple encourages customers to buy their additional warranty without clearly explaining that the company is obliged under Italian law to offer a free two-year warranty.
Apple appealed the antitrust fine, but lost in court earlier this year.
