San Francisco, Jan 25 (IANS): Apple is reportedly planning to impose fees and restrictions on developers who offer the ability to sideload their apps in the European Union (EU).

App sideloading will allow users to download apps from outside the App Store for the first time, but only within the EU. The change is necessitated by the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA), which is set to take effect in the coming weeks.

According to MacRumors, Apple intends to abide with EU law while maintaining strict control over the programmes downloaded from sources other than the App Store.

The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

The tech giant has not yet disclosed its final plans to comply with this aspect of the DMA.

In particular, it appears that Apple will continue to charge developers who provide their apps for a fee and to assess any software that is made available outside of the app store, according to the report.

It is uncertain what the exact fee structure is, but Apple charges a commission of 27 per cent on in-app purchases made through payment systems other than Apple's in the Netherlands. This was made possible by a regulatory ruling in the country. This commission is only 3 per cent lower than its default fee.

However, unlike Apple's commission, it does not include tax, which means that the net total is higher than Apple's fee for most developers, the report said.

The Digital Markets Act is set to go into effect on March 7.

Meanwhile, after a recent US Court decision, Apple has updated its App Store guidelines that allow developers to link to outside websites for in-app purchases.

"App Store Review Guideline 3.1.1 has been updated to introduce the StoreKit Purchase Link Entitlement (US), which allows apps that offer in-app purchases in the iOS or iPadOS App Store on the US storefront the ability to include a link to the developer’s website that informs users of other ways to purchase digital goods or services," Apple said in a blogpost.