UK’s antitrust regulator dropped investigations into Apple and Google’s respective app stores as it awaits the rollout of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) bill, intended to give it more power to curb the dominance of major technology companies.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) explained its investigations into Apple and Google were based on the Competition Act established in 1998, and it had decided to shut down the two cases ahead of the DMCC regulation set to come into force next month.

The new law will revise the existing Competition Act 1998 and the Enterprise Act 2002, while introducing new provisions about competition law and the protection of consumers rights.

CMA opened investigations against Apple and Google over concerns the two companies “are using their market positions via the Play Store and App Store respectively to set terms which may be unfair to UK app developers and may restrict competition and consumer choice, potentially leading to higher prices and reduce choice for app users”.

The distribution of apps and lack of options for in-app payments were also cited as major concerns.

In a statement announcing the probes shutdown, the watchdog stated: “While the CMA has not taken any decisions on what digital activities or harms it will tackle first, it anticipates that its early work under the new digital markets competition regime will build on and leverage its experience in areas it has already studied, such as mobile ecosystems, which includes app stores.”

CMA added it terminated both cases on the grounds of administrative priorities, explaining it will be able to address anti-competitive concerns “more holistically” through the DMCC bill, which will designate whether Apple and Google have a “strategic market status” in relation to any digital activities in the mobile market.