Photo Credit: James Yarema

As the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) weighs implementing a new steering requirement for the App Store and the Play Store, the Coalition for App Fairness (CAF) is urging a related fee freeze pending the final regulation’s rollout.

Sky News pointed to the CAF’s zero-fee push today, though the Spotify- and Epic-backed organization itself doesn’t appear to have publicly released the referenced letter to CMA chair Doug Gurr.

Even so, it was only in July that the Coalition for App Fairness emphasized a similar position in an 18-page letter to the CMA. And this letter arrived in connection with a consultation concerning “a proposed steering conduct requirement for Apple’s [and Google’s] mobile platform to allow developers to ‘steer’ users out of the app.”

In its response, the CAF doubled down on the belief “that Apple and Google should not be permitted to charge any fee for steering” and underscored that “[a]ny Steering Fee should be a one-off charge, not a commission on subscription renewals that is charged indefinitely.”

“Zero fees pending CMA approval,” the CAF continued after rattling off a number of adjacent demands. “Until the CMA has approved a compliant fee, the applicable steering fee should automatically be zero.”

Evidently, given the above-noted Sky News report, the subject is still front of mind for the CAF, which is taking issue with the anticipated three-month window that will separate the CMA’s final decision and the potential steering requirement’s going into effect.

With said final decision expected to arrive later in 2026 – likely delaying enforcement into the new year – Coalition for App Fairness reps reportedly met with the CMA last month to discuss topics including the possibility of shortening the decision-enforcement gap.

More immediately, it’s not by chance that the fee-freeze argument and the heretofore undisclosed meeting are now entering the media spotlight. The carefully timed development seemingly underscores the CAF’s all-encompassing approach to curbing app store fees, including ongoing regulatory efforts spanning a variety of markets.

Back in May, the Coalition for App Fairness announced its formal arrival in Japan with a Tokyo press conference, for instance. More recently, the entity wrapped August by entreating Japan’s Free Trade Commission to pull out all the stops when enforcing the Mobile Software Competition Act (MSCA).

“It is apparent that neither [Google nor Apple] intends to comply, to cease their unfair and anticompetitive conduct, nor relinquish the significant market power as required and intended by the MSCA absent strong enforcement and orders from courts. This is entirely consistent with their behavior and approach in other jurisdictions around the world,” the CAF vented in its letter.