Italy's competition authority orders Dropbox to fix unfair cloud terms

In September 2020 the Italian Competition Authority (Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato, AGCM) opened parallel proceedings against Google, Apple, and Dropbox International Unlimited Company over their cloud-storage services — two cases per company, one on unfair commercial practices and one on unfair contract clauses. The Dropbox matters were docketed as PS11149 (unfair commercial practices) and CV195 (unfair contract clauses).

In the unfair-practices case (PS11149), the AGCM in April 2021 accepted commitments from Dropbox and closed the matter without a fine. The conduct at issue concerned unclear information about consumers' EU withdrawal/cancellation rights, inadequate information about alternative dispute resolution, and inadequate disclosure of data collection at signup; Dropbox agreed to amend its terms.

In the unfair-clauses case (CV195), the AGCM in September 2021 found that several Dropbox contract clauses were unfair (vexatious) — including broad rights to suspend service, liability exemptions covering the loss of stored documents, unilateral modification rights, and the prevalence of the English-language text — and ordered their removal along with publication of the decision, again without imposing a fine on Dropbox. (Reporting on the precise 'no fine / removal-only' character of the clauses decision relies in part on secondary summaries, though the underlying AGCM case references are confirmed.)