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France said the EU also approved a declaration to the World Trade Organization to suspend the most-favored-nation clause for Russia that would withdraw its special treatment throughout the bloc.

The French presidency said in a statement that the bloc also approved a declaration to the World Trade Organization “on suspending the application of the most-favored-nation clause for Russia and suspending the examination of Belarus’ application for accession to the WTO.”

Crucially, Apple’s arrangement with the publishers included a so-called “most-favored-nation” clause, which ensured that if a retailer like Amazon undercut the publisher’s designated price — which it had shown a willingness to do — Apple had the right to do so as well.

During the trial, Judge Cote seemed to breathe new life into Apple’s position that it didn’t “force” the five major publishers to demand that Amazon change its business model, when she suggested a distinction between Apple “requiring” the publishers to “require” Amazon to shift to the agency model, and the publishers acting on their own once they realized that the most-favored-nation clause made it “technically impossible” for them to agree to continue a wholesale relationship with Amazon.

The most-favored-nation clause therefore “eliminated any risk that Apple would ever have to compete on price when selling e-books, while as a practical matter forcing the Publishers to adopt the agency model across the board,” Judge Cote found.