Brussels, 10/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 8 July, MEPs Ramon Tremosa i Balcells (ALDE, Spain) and Andreas Schwab (EPP, Germany) wrote to Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia to ask him not to rush to close the Google case.
The US internet giant unveiled a number of commitments in February 2014 to respond to accusations of abuse of its dominant position in online search and advertising markets. More than 20 companies have complained that the commitments do not go far enough. The Commission has already starting sending them letters rejecting their complaints and saying that Google's commitments will deal with the four problems identified in the Commission's investigation (which began in 2009). The companies may now make new comments before the final decision is taken.
In their letter, which this newsletter has seen, Schwab and Tremosa say that they understand that Commissioner Almunia wants to bring the Google matter to a close before the end of October but the two MEPs strongly believe that the investigation and its conclusions are of the greatest importance for the development of the European single digital market and that the final stages of the proceedings must not be rushed through. It is therefore crucial, they say, to take the time to carefully assess the best remedy.
The two MEPs say that the decision must be taken on a solid basis which takes stock of possible new legislation in the digital domain, especially the EU regulation on data protection. They firmly believe that the decision should be taken by the new European Commission.
MEP Marc Tarabella (S&D, Belgium), who is in the same political group as Almunia, tells this newsletter that he thought Almunia was hastily pushing the decision through before he left office. Tarabella said it was better to leave the question open rather than make the wrong decision and Almunia seems to be on Google's side.
Yelp's complaint arrived too late
At a press conference on 9 June, Commissioner Almunia said: “We have been in contact with Yelp, they had been very forthcoming and cooperative during the past three and a half years. I have met the CEO of Yelp on several occasions but until recently, Yelp did not make a formal complaint. And the day they presented their formal complaint was too late to consider Yelp at the same level as the 20 formal complainants that we have in this particular investigation. I don't know the details of the text of the complaint they presented, but in general we know very well what are Yelp's concerns and we will discuss these concerns when formally answering the pre-rejection letters or considering/analysing the replies to the pre-rejection letters of other complainants. In any case we will continue to have with them bilateral good relations and interesting conversations. Regarding the possibility of a non-formal complainant to appeal the possible decision, first of all I would try to convince Yelp not to appeal”.
In June 2014, Michael Weber, the managing director of Hot Maps, one of the 20 companies that have lodged complaints about Google, told this newsletter that he was still hoping to convince the Commission (see EUROPE 11102) and that, if the College of Commissioners were to endorse Google's commitments, a number of the companies had agreed that they would challenge the decision at the European Court of Justice.
Almunia provided written explanations at the end of June about the Google case to win over a number of European Commissioners. He said he might consider possible ways of improving on the comments if the plaintiff companies made convincing arguments. (EL)