Apple has criticized a bill approved by German parliamentary groups that would force the company to open up the NFC functionality on its devices to other financial service providers, Handelsblatt reports. Apple uses the NFC in its devices for its own payment service Apple Pay.
In September the European Payment Service Directive PSD2 was integrated in national laws. According to the directive, banks have to grant access to their customers' payment information to other companies, as long as the companies requesting the data operate under supervision of a financial regulator.
According to the proposed amendment, the MPs want to oblige any company providing payment services or the operation of a domestic e-money business through their own infrastructure to provide the technical services for a reasonable fee and access conditions at the request of another payment service provider.
The NFC element of a phone can be considered an infrastructure. This means that other payment apps can access the NFC interface of smartphones, and its data, with Google's Android operating system, besides Google Pay.
Apple believes that the new regulation, if passed, could "undermine usability in payments and jeopardize the privacy and security of financial information," a spokesperson for the company said. Apple is ready to work with the German government to clarify the technical background of Apple Pay and it will continue to work closely with regulators at a European level, the spokesperson added.
Meanwhile, Apple has drafted an ad-hoc opinion to prevent the approval of the bill, which Handelsblatt has seen. According to the document, "the compatibility of the regulation with the property (including intellectual property) and the constitutionally protected contractual freedom of enterprises is doubtful", it is said.
The reform has to be approved by the chamber representing the federal states, the Bundesrat, too. The spokesman of the SPD parliamentary group for digital policy, Jens Zimmermann, said that Germany is "not intimidated by international corporations."
