The EU officially launched an investigation what the iTunes store charges users across Europe today.

The move follows a complaint from a UK body called Which? that users have to pay more in the UK than other European countries.

The commission believes that agreements between record companies and Apple violate EU laws.

The commission said that Apple established a users country of residence through credit card details and restricted them from buying from any other store than their own.

“Consumers can only buy music from the iTunes online stores in their country of residence and are therefore restricted in their choice of where to buy music,” said EU spokesman Jonathan Todd.

Looking at the big picture of prices; users in the UK pay 79p per download, where as customers in Denmark pay 72p, and Germany, France and Belgium all pay 66p.

Apple claims it has always wished to offer a pan-European store but has been restricted by music labels.

“We were advised by the music labels and publishers that there were certain legal limits to the rights they could grant us,” Apple stated.