Apple has stopped selling AppleCare in its Apple Store locations in Italy, and will no longer distribute AppleCare to third party retailers. Reuters reported that Apple confirmed the decision, which comes in the wake of Italian regulators spending much of the year pointing out that AppleCare was providing a for-fee warranty that Italian law requires be included out of the box.
Apple includes a one year limited warranty with its products, and offers customers AppleCare that can extend that warranty by one or two years, depending on the product. In Italy, however, companies are required to warranty their products for two years, and regulators said that Apple selling AppleCare for that second year violates Italian law.
Apple was fined €900,000 (US$1,132,559 at the time) by Italy's Autoritá Garante della Concerrenza (AGDC) as part of this ongoing process in Italy. The company appealed that fine and lost, and stopped selling AppleCare in its brick and mortar stores on November 9th.
AppleCare remains available on Apple's online Apple Store, where Apple advertises that AppleCare, "[adds] to the two years of vendor warranty required by Italian law to protect consumers."
The AGDC told Reuters that talks with Apple are ongoing.