Italy slaps Apple with a $264,000 fine in ongoing AppleCare warranty dispute

AppleCare Plus icon (medium)

Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM), Italy’s antitrust authority, punished Apple over failing to comply with local laws concerning AppleCare warranties, a report Friday noted. After the company had faced a temporary closure of Italy operations and even removed its AppleCare products from all sales channels in the country (except for its online store), the country’s regulator nevertheless fined the iPhone maker 200,000 euros, or approximately $264,000. This is in addition to the 900,000 euro (approximately $1.2 million) fine from March over failing to tell customers about their rights to free assistance, as mandated by EU laws…

The Next Web passes along a statement by the AGCM which claims Apple between March and November continued to infringe on rights covering “Legal guarantee of conformity and commercial guarantees for consumer goods” in the Italian consumer code.

This is despite Apple updating its warranty policies November 10 in response to the warranty shenanigans.

AppleCare iPad coverage (Italy) The AGCM wrote:

In light of the above considerations, it was determined that Apple’s behavior during the period of 28th March 2012 – 10th November 2012 constitutes non-compliance with resolution no. 23155 of 21st December 2011, as modified by resolution no. 23193 of 11th January 2012.

Cupertino is being accused of selling its $99 a year AppleCare coverage even though a two-year warranty is mandated by the European Union.

Furthermore, Apple’s warranty covers only its products, while EU consumer protection laws require sellers to provide coverage for both first- and third-party products.