Brussels, 17/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has sent a 20-page letter to Hot Maps to justify the commitments made by US giant internet company Google in response to accusations of abuse of its dominant position. The Commission's letter says: “the Third Set of Commitments addresses adequately the competition concern expressed to Google by the Commission in the Preliminary Assessment with regard to the first business practice. The Commission intends to make those commitments binding on Google and to conclude that there are no longer grounds for action.”
Michael Weber, the boss of Hot Maps, told EUROPE on Tuesday 17 June that the Commission's arguments were “weak” He said that the meeting his company had had with Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia's department at the end of May had given him the hope that the Commission might change its mind when it receives comments from Hot Maps. “We're going to put great efforts into our answer”, he said, adding that the four week deadline allowed by the Commission was too short and he was planning to ask for an extension. The fact that a number of European commissioners are fiercely opposed to the idea of accepting Google's commitments also suggests that change is possible. Hot Maps has argued its case in letters to each of the 27 commissioners and also to the president of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso. If the college of commissioners endorses Google's commitments, a number of plaintiff companies have decided to take the case to the European Court of Justice. Weber commented: “The investigation is stuck in a cycle of Google giving weak settlement proposals, the complainants refusing them, while Google is rolling out new forms of search that are not even covered by the settlement any more. So it takes a general, future-proof simple remedy”. (EL)