The Bundeskartellamt has today presented the results of its sector inquiry into mobile apps to examine consumer rights.
Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt said “Apps on smartphones and tablets are used billions of times to communicate, shop, obtain information, plan a trip or even for gaming. In our inquiry we have found that in many cases there are serious shortcomings with regard to data protection. App users receive insufficient or no information about companies accessing their personal data and do not know who receives their data. There is a lack of intelligible information and clear and simple possibilities of control. This is in clear contradiction to what consumers want. App publishers, app stores and operating system operators need to contribute to more legal compliance and consumer friendliness in the use of mobile apps.”
The Bundeskartellamt thoroughly analysed and evaluated the following problem areas for mobile end devices run on the Android or iOS operating system.
In October 2020 the Bundeskartellamt launched its Sector Inquiry into Mobile Apps based on its new competencies in the area of consumer protection, which it has held since mid-2017. These new competencies allow the authority to conduct investigations and identify problem areas.
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