Apple Threatened With Suspension Of Italian Sales Over Warranty Concerns

Back in December of 2011 we reported that Italian antitrust regulator forced Apple to pay a $1,2 million fine for misleading practices related to warranty terms disclosure. The regulator claimed that Apple mislead customers by selling standard one-year AppleCare warranty without properly informing consumers of a two-year warranty that is required by European Union law. According to Reuters, now Apple is facing additional fines and temporary closure of its commercial operations in Italy, if the company does not change its warranty policies:

“Apple Inc was threatened with the temporary closure of its operations in Italy and with further fines of up to 300,000 euros ($377,500) if it does not offer customers a free two-year warranty as demanded by Italian law… The AGCM said in its monthly bulletin that Apple was continuing to adopt unfair commercial practices in Italy and noted this could eventually lead to the closure of its Italian operations for up to 30 days”.

In March of this year, consumer groups in other eleven countries in the EU filed letters of complaint with regulatory agencies in their countries asking them to take measures against Apple’s unfair warranty sales practices.