By Inti Landauro and Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS, June 9 (Reuters) - EU regulators on Tuesday

slammed Apple ( AAPL ) for blaming EU tech rules for its

decision not to roll out its upgraded assistant Siri AI in the

European Union for now, saying they had rejected the company's

request for an 18-month exemption from its obligations.

The iPhone maker on Tuesday said Siri AI would not be

available initially in the EU on iPhones or iPads and faulted

the European Commission for refusing to engage constructively

with them to ensure privacy and security on their devices.

It told regulators of its plans to introduce an intermediary

over an 18-month period to allow virtual assistants to access

Siri AI safely but the request was turned down.

The Commission repudiated Apple's ( AAPL ) criticism.

"The decision not to roll out Siri AI in the EU is Apple's ( AAPL )

and Apple's ( AAPL ) only," spokesperson Thomas Regnier told reporters in

Brussels, saying there was nothing in the Digital Markets Act to

stop the company from introducing new products in the EU.

"Apple ( AAPL ) was simply unable to develop interoperability

solutions that meet essential EU privacy and security

standards," Regnier said.

"Instead of trying to find a suitable compliance solution,

Apple ( AAPL ) simply made a request to the European Commission to be

exempted from their interoperability obligations under the DMA -

and this for at least 18 months. That's not an option."

Europe accounted for nearly 27% of Apple's ( AAPL ) total sales in

its last fiscal year. The company does not break out sales for

the EU.

Apple ( AAPL ) last year said the DMA had forced it to postpone the

rollout of several features in the EU, including iPhone

mirroring to Mac and live translation with AirPods as well as

location-based features in Maps.

The DMA aims to rein in the power of Big Tech, give rivals

more leeway to compete and consumers more choice. DMA breaches

can cost companies fines as much as 10% of their global annual

turnover.