Apple lost its appeal against competition regulations in Germany, paving the way for stringent oversight to be imposed on the company. The U.S. technology giant Apple lost its appeal against regulations in Germany that bring tighter competition oversight. The German Federal Cartel Office classified Apple as a highly significant company for cross-market competition in 2023, aiming to introduce stricter competition oversight for Apple to prohibit anti-competitive behavior at an earlier stage. Apple had appealed to the German Federal Court (BGH) against this. In its decision today, the court confirmed Apple’s crucial role in market competition, supporting the German Cartel Office’s classification of Apple as a company of paramount importance for competition in markets. Andreas Mundt, president of the German Federal Cartel Office, welcomed the BGH’s decision and stated, “This means that the highest court has approved stricter antitrust control for Apple. Therefore, our ongoing review of Apple’s monitoring policy for third-party applications has gained a solid foundation. We are working diligently on this case and others involving major internet companies.” In January 2022, the German Federal Cartel Office classified Google’s parent company Alphabet as highly important for competition across markets. In May 2022, Meta, the owner of Facebook, and in July 2022, Amazon became included in this classification.