German regulators may force Apple to open up its tech to rival payment providers

Apple is not happy. The Cupertino-based tech titan may soon find itself being forced to allow rival payment providers to get access to its technology after Germany’s parliament voted in favour of new regulations.

The proposed laws, which would amend the country’s anti-money laundering bill, could order Apple to open up its NFC, or near-field communication, chip, which is the technology enabling cashless payments, to Apple Pay solution competitors.

Apple would still be able to charge rivals a fee for using the technology, but it would not be as big as the 0.15% fee it reportedly gets at the moment from each Apple Pay transaction, according to The Verge.

The company has previously vehemently protected this sort of development.

Even though the proposed legislation did not name Apple by name, it is aiming to reduce tech titans’ dominance in the sector.

This follows from a growing desire in Germany to regulate big tech firms stricter in the future.

While the amendment must still pass through Germany’s upper house before being finalized into law, Apple is unhappy about it.

“We are surprised at how suddenly this legislation was introduced,” Apple told Reuters. “We fear that the draft law could be harmful to user friendliness, data protection and the security of financial information.”

The news comes after European regulators reportedly began to look into whether or not Apple had told online sales companies to use Apple Pay rather than rival solutions.