Brussels, 06/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is preparing to close the Google case by the end of the summer.
In early February, the US internet giant offered commitments to respond to accusations of abuse of its dominant position on the publicity market for internet searches.
In recent days, the Commission has held “state of play” meetings with some of the now 20 plaintiff companies and will later send them letters explaining why it feels that the Google commitments give a satisfactory solution to the problems raised in its investigation. It will then await the responses of plaintiffs before taking the final decision, probably after the summer break, explained EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia recently.
MEPs Ramon Tremosa i Balcells (ALDE, Spain) and Andreas Schwab (EPP, Germany) have quizzed Almunia a number of times about Google's commitments: “In our understanding a state-of-play meeting should however be an opportunity for real exchange and not a false front. Google's commitments proposal has to be subjected to the remarks and comments of the formal complainants and subsequently potential shortcomings have to be addressed to avoid a void settlement”.
BEUC is unconvinced. The European consumer bureau BEUC recently joined the other plaintiffs and attended a state of play meeting with the Commission.
John Phelan, BEUC's press officer, told this newsletter: “The Commission has publicly flagged its current intentions, which are to acquiesce to Google's proposals and rebuff the complainant parties. But the clamour against a hasty agreement has continued to grow, with the French and German economy minsters very recently urging reconsideration at the Commission. This added to the chorus of concerns among prominent commissioners and of course any deal must be approved by the College in order to pass. But we cannot wait forever, the problems are well known, but comprehensive solutions have been deferred”.
Nine European commissioners have doubts about accepting Google's current commitments, including German commissioner Günther Oettinger, who points out that Almunia will need a majority at the College of Commissioners if he wants to make the commitments binding for five years.
Almunia pointed out a month ago that the commitments dealt with the concerns raised, but other Google trade practices could be examined in separate investigations by the Competition department (see EUROPE 11083). A complaint lodged by European publishers, the Open Internet Project, will be dealt with separately.
Some of the commitments offered by Google are felt to be lacking by BEUC and MEPs, such as the suggestion of listing three competitors' services (selected by auction) alongside Google's own.
Earlier this month, Almunia wrote to Tremosa and Schwab to explain that, in his view, this commitment was a significant improvement. The MEPs recommend that the commitment be examined by other market players first and foremost. (EL)