Apple has rejected accusations from Russia's state competition watchdog that it fixed iPhone prices.
The
Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) said it was investigating "signs of
price-setting coordination" among iPhone resellers following a
complaint from a member of the public.
Apple told
Reuters it did not control its products' pricing.
"Resellers set their own prices for the Apple products they sell in Russia and around the world," it said.
A
citizen told the FAS that the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, which went
on sale in Russia in October 2015, were priced identically across all 16
major Russian retailers.
Five of the retailers have denied the claims.
The FAS said in a
press release it suggested the price-setting was coordinated by Apple, leading to obligatory recommended prices.
"As the preliminary investigations showed, since the start of the
sales of iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, the majority of resellers have
fixed and maintained for a certain period of time the same prices for
them. Besides, the anti-monopoly authority has identified similarities
in the resellers' prices for other Apple smartphones," it added.
The
service, which reports to the Government of the Russian Federation, has
the power to impose fines on companies it deems to be behaving
anti-competitively.
Apple
could face a fine of between 1 million rubles ($15,400 ; £11,796) and 5
million rubles, lawyer Oleg Kolotilov from law firm Kulkov, Kolotilov
& Partners told the
Moscow Times.
The FAS has been contacted for comment.
Apple temporarily stopped selling its devices in Russia in December 2014 after the rouble's value became too volatile.
The
previous month it had increased the prices of iPhones, iPads and other
products by 20% after the weakened currency left its products cheaper in
Russia than the rest of Europe.
Last year a US federal appeals court ruled that Apple conspired with publishers to
fix the prices of e-books, resulting in the prices of some titles rising from $9.99 to up to $14.99.
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