Russia's State Duma to potentially enforce 20% commission on Apple and Google, as well as allow third-party stores

Russia’s State Duma is reviewing a bill on mobile application stores submitted by the Just Russia party.

The bill argues that the owner of the operating system should not restrict or prohibit the installation of third-party marketplaces. Moreover, the document calls on the State Duma to limit the maximum commission in app stores to 20% of the price excluding VAT. According to the bill, if the store owner sets the maximum commission, it will have to pay one third of the income from sales in the territory of the Russian Federation to a special fund for training IT professionals.

In August 2020, Apple was also contacted by the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation. Apple “abused its dominant position,” the organization found. “[It] limited competition in the distribution market for apps for mobile devices running on the iOS operating system.” The service demanded that Apple remove one of its App Store guidelines allowing the company to reject apps and games for any reason. According to the ruling, Apple must implement the changes by November 30.