Developers Must Share Phone Number and Address on EU App Store to Meet 'Trader' Requirement Starting in October

[BaldiMac]

Sure, but if you’re a private person there’s no legal recourse for me as a customer, unless you’re doing it as a company.

I'm not interested in discussing your abstraction any further. Thanks.

Email/website is a perfectly reasonable support method for small apps. Providing phone support in multiple languages to anyone that browses your listing is not.

And you the person and the info developer do not need to have the same information such as your private contact information and your business contact information.

Sure, at added expense.

 

[Sophisticatednut]

Meanwhile in Sweden PO boxes are only available to businesses, are close to $600 USD a year and the adress includes your business name which makes it easy to find your home address as everything is public information in Sweden.

The EU has GDPR but they also do this? Make up your minds EU politicians.

Well Swedish law about public information is unrelated to EU law….

And you can actually just have a digital postbox for less than 100€

 

[BaldiMac]

You’re not required to give phone support. It’s contact information.

Ahhh. It makes so much more sense to publish your phone number if you don't actually talk to anyone that calls.

 

[cioccoblocco]

Yes and this is a legitimate company. Your company doesn’t need to have the same phone number, adress or other contact information

In Italy it's perfectly fine to sell something to third parties, consumers and business included, and be legally classified as an individual and NOT a company ("persona fisica").

 

[Sophisticatednut]

I'm not interested in discussing your abstraction any further. Thanks.

It’s not abstraction but law, but you should stop complaining about things you quite literally don’t seem to grasp or understand the basics of.

Email/website is a perfectly reasonable support method for small apps. Providing phone support in multiple languages to anyone that browses your listing is not.

Indeed I 100% agree. And This isn’t for support purposes. Example legal contact.

Sure, at added expense.

A voluntary expenditure. Running a business comes with responsibility and accountability

 

[BaldiMac]

Indeed I 100% agree. And This isn’t for support purposes. Example legal contact.

And what will stop people from calling for purposes that you claim it's not for?

 

[MilaM]

All this would not be an issue for hobbyists developers, if there was a way to download apps from say GitHub and just side-load them.

After re-reading the article as well as other reporting, it appears that the contact info will not be published for apps that make no money on the app store (up front, with subscriptions, or ads). Thus this should not be an issue when you just publish a hobby project for friends and family to download.

 

[Sophisticatednut]

Ahhh. It makes so much more sense to publish your phone number if you don't actually talk to anyone that calls.

A business is legally required to have a phone number registered with it so….🤷‍♂️

Well if I want to contact the business known as BaldiMac because I want to buy your app for 1 million.

And You can also have an email you never read or respond to ether…. Nobody forces you to respond

 

[Sophisticatednut]

And what will stop people from calling for purposes that you claim it's not for?

Nothing in practice, but you don’t need to respond ether. And it’s already public information on your company registration.


Send to voice mail:

Hello this is BaldiMac LLC, we are open between 05:00AM-05:30AM if you want support send a mail to support@baldimac, if you need to get in contact leave a messagge for the business related issues and phone number and we will call back. After the beep. Beeeeep

 

[Sophisticatednut]

In Italy it's perfectly fine to sell something to third parties, consumers and business included, and be legally classified as an individual and NOT a company ("persona fisica").

It’s not ditta individuale or impresa individuale?

If your sales or activities are occasional, you can conduct them as a “persona fisica” (individual) without having to register as a formal business (such as a “ditta individuale”). Occasional sales are typically small-scale, infrequent, and not continuous or professional in nature.

If your sales or activities are regular or continuous, you are considered to be conducting a business activity. In this case, you would need to register a business, such as a “ditta individuale” (sole proprietorship) or another type of business entity.

 

[BaldiMac]

Nothing in practice, but you don’t need to respond ether. And it’s already public information on your company registration.

So... it's already available if you need it for non-support reasons. Hmm.

 

[davide_eu]

My wife is a small business owner (self-employed attorney with one employee), and her PO Box is $8 month. That is her legal business address.

Can't afford that, really?

In addition, at least in the US, you should be selling your apps under an LLC, otherwise your personal financial wellbeing and possessions would be in play if you were sued by a customer.

Exactly, selling an app as "individual" is totally crazy!

 

[dbourne]

There is no requirement to post a home address.

In the US, it would be a PO Box. Most countries have a similar option.

It looks like a PO Box isn't enough. From the email I got from Apple today re Books on the Bookstore "phone number, email, and physical address" is required.

Also not required if "I’m not a trader under the DSA or I don’t plan to distribute in the EU". I thought the second option looked attractive. I never could work out if I was a trader when this first became an issue some months ago.

 

[Sophisticatednut]

So... it's already available if you need it for non-support reasons. Hmm.

I do have to agree with you I think it should just require one contact avenue.

 

[dbourne]

1: The data won’t be open publicly. It will be for the likes of the Internal Revenue in the USA, and HMRC in the U.K. etc. It will be no different to how your banks share income data with those authorities.

2: Everyone will be using a business address, and a business phone number.

Not quite. From the email from Apple regarding Books on the bookstore.

"5. If you’re a trader under the DSA, you need to enter your phone number, email, and physical address. You will also need to provide documentation to verify your information.

6. Once your information has been verified, it will display on your Apple Books product pages to consumers in the countries and regions where the DSA is applicable."

 

[davide_eu]

I am a small developer without dedicated business phone - not making enough money to justify one or share my personal one ( I’m already getting enough spam calls as is). Could probably generate a free google phone number, but again not worth the time for the small EU income - I will just let Apple remove my apps in the EU.
AppStore in the EU is dead for me.

Move your apps in any altStore

 

[BaldiMac]

Move your apps in any altStore

How would that help? They're subject to the same requirement.

 

[davide_eu]

Indies should be selling under an LLC for asset protection. If you don't, any legal action could come back directly to your personal finances and your possessions. If an LLC is sued, you would be protected, and just the LLC's assets would be in play.

It's just dumb to be running a business or selling anything under your own name, no matter how small or how little you make. Even a free app should be posted under an LLC.

The low quality of many users of this forum is shown by the downgrading of this post.

 

[Sophisticatednut]

How would that help? They're subject to the same requirement.

Not so sure, alt store is considers a small platform so have exceptions.

But honestly I’m not well versed in the DSA

 

[davide_eu]

So, I lose the right to privacy if I sell something? Seems like a pretty useless right.

C'mon... It is clear.

GDPR requires a legal base to manage personal data. A business contract can become the legal base to manage personal data.

 

[BaldiMac]

Not so sure, alt store is considers a small platform so have exceptions.

But honestly I’m not well versed in the DSA

Trader status has nothing to do with which app store you sell through. In EU tradition, it's a fluid "concept" determined on a case by case business based on undefined criteria with undefined thresholds.

See section 2.2.

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52021XC1229(05)

 

[davide_eu]

Trasferring ownership of an app in any way makes the entire thing ineligible and you now have to pay 30% to Apple regardless. It sucks

Strange, I understood that everybody was happy to pay 30% to a$$ke just to prove they are good citizens of the walled garden.

 

[The Apple Bitch]

I have to have my name on the door bell, why shouldn’t a business have to show its details on the „store front“ as well.

I guess it’s like an imprint on websites. Must be easy to contact someone and helps to confirm the legitimacy of a business?

I guess that it's just a shift in developer privacy dynamics.
Anonymity over the internet maybe is a bad thing, maybe not, it probably depends..?
I think some people simply would prefer being hidden from public eyes..
But maybe this will lead till better app development..

 

[BaldiMac]

C'mon... It is clear.

GDPR requires a legal base to manage personal data. A business contract can become the legal base to manage personal data.

Which I would have no problem with. I have no problem with registering a phone number with a business. I have no problem with making a phone number available to customers for legal reasons.

I do have a problem with publishing a phone number to anyone browsing the app store.

 

[igneousc]

the EU is a disaster at the internet. What a horrible decision

Pulling my app from the EU for sure, not that it will hurt business, but I'm not spending money hiding my info because of their rules.
Ive never complied with a single GDPR thing either, total nonsense.