Asian Tech Press (Dec 13) -- Poland's antitrust regulator announced on Monday the start of an investigation into Apple's new rules on privacy and personal data processing for iOS devices.

Polish antimonopoly watchdog UOKiK said in a statement released Monday that it initiated proceedings against Apple to see if Apple's new privacy rules for iOS devices violate competition law.

According to the UOKiK's statement, the proceeding applies to all products using the following operating systems: iOS 14.5, iPadOS 14.5, tvOS 14.5 and later versions.

UOKiK also said that in practice, under Apple's new privacy policy, third-party apps do have significantly limited access to personal data to deliver personalized ads, but this does not mean that iOS devices will no longer collect information about users to distribute personalized ads.

The statement highlights that some have questioned Apple's rules as a way to promote its own ad service, Apple Search Ads, which could violate market competition rules.

The statement also notes that the investigation is being conducted in connection with the case and not against a specific company.