Norway's Consumer Ombudsman made Apple's 20-page letter public Wednesday evening. It had obscured parts of the letter, under Norwegian laws that make it possible to withhold certain information from public access.

The obscured paragraphs include a summary of iTunes history, an explanation of the reasons for choosing English legislation as that applicable for all European iTunes stores, and a whole paragraph detailing fulfillment of iTunes obligations.

The ombudsman also blacked out a passage in the first point of Apple's explanation of why it finds it reasonable to lock iTunes customers to a single brand of music player, the iPod.

It is this policy which prompted the consumer authorities of Norway, and then Denmark and Sweden, to send Apple a letter in June warning that some of the terms and conditions applied by its iTunes Music Store might conflict with the countries' national marketing laws.

Norwegian consumer authorities are unsatisfied with Apple's reply. They will now cooperate with their colleagues in Denmark and Sweden about which further steps to take in the process.