The Republic of Korea has passed a new antitrust law that would functionally end app store monopolies, putting the app retail dominance of Apple (AAPL  ) and Alphabet (GOOGL  ) in danger.

South Korean lawmakers revised the country's Telecommunications Business Act to prohibit companies from requiring exclusivity of payment systems, which would prevent Apple and Google from requiring developers to utilize their proprietary app stores. The bill is set to head to the desk of President Moon Jae-In in the coming weeks, though given the support of the President's political party for the bill, the passage seems quite likely.

The passage of the revision would make South Korea the first state to enact legislation ending the considerable monopolies. However, the Asian republic is far from the first to consider such a measure. The Australian Competition and Commerce Commission ruled that the respective firms' app store terms were anticompetitive. Similar legislation may also come to the United States, with a bipartisan bill introduced in early August that would similarly end app store monopolies.

Given the immense income that app stores generate through the 30% commission that both firms take, the law's passage is immensely worrying for the store operators. The precedent set by South Korea will likely be used by foreign regulators as an example in the future and could drive existing legislation such as the U.S. bill forward at a quicker pace.

"Just as it costs developers money to build an app, it costs us money to build and maintain an operating system and app store. We'll reflect on how to comply with this law while maintaining a model that supports a high-quality operating system and app store, and we will share more in the coming weeks," Apple told The Verge before the passage of the bill; neither firm has commented on the newly passaged legislation as of yet.