U.S. PayPal Holdings helped spur a formal antitrust complaint against Apple arguing that the iPhone maker abuses its control over mobile payments.

RB.ru writes citing Bloomberg that the complaint centers on the company reserving the iPhone’s tap-to-pay abilities for its own Apple Pay service, rather than letting rival payment platforms use the feature. The largest online payment system PayPal offers a tap-to-pay option on Android phones and wants to be able to offer the same feature on Apple’s iPhone.

Tap-to-pay services rely on a standard called NFC. Apple only lets its own payment system use the iPhone’s NFC chip, hampering PayPal and other apps, including Square’s Cash App and Alphabet.

In its complaint the European Commission stressed that the situation creates “an unequal playing field.”

Apple says this year it will begin letting third parties use the iPhone’s NFC chip to accept payments but the feature will be geared toward small businesses.

Apple also stated that Apple Pay rivals, including PayPal, are still popular on the iPhone – even without a tap-to-pay option.

Defending its approach, Apple, however, said that it will “continue to engage with the commission to ensure European consumers have access to the payment option of their choice in a safe and secure environment.”

To note, the European Union may bring charges against Apple for antitrust violations after it restricts rivals from accessing Apple Pay. Apple would receive fines worth up to 10 percent of global turnover if the charges are upheld.

Apple may be accused of unfairly blocking rivals from accessing its mobile payment system that operates on hundreds of millions of iPhone devices. The charges relate to the NFC - or “near field communication” - technology that allows a user to pay by tapping their iPhone on a payments terminal.

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