Brussels, 20/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is accusing Google of abusing its dominant position by imposing restrictions on producers of mobile telephones and mobile network operators.
This is the subjectof the statement of objections sent on Wednesday 20 April to the American online search giant. It comes virtually a year to the day after the opening of the in-depth investigation and the initial statement of objections regarding Google Shopping, Google's price comparison tool (see EUROPE 11295).
“We found that Google pursues an overall strategy on mobile devices to protect and expand its dominant position in Internet search”, the Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, told a press conference. She stressed that half of all Internet traffic takes place on mobile devices. In Europe and throughout the world, 80% of these devices use the Android operating system.
The Commission today flagged up three practices which it believes are anti-competitive. Firstly, its investigation revealed that manufacturers wishing to pre-install Google Play Store, Google's app store for Android, on their devices, were required by Google also to pre-install Google Search and make it their default search engine. Manufacturers also had to pre-install Google's navigator, Chrome, meaning that its search engine and navigator were pre-installed on the vast majority of devices sold in Europe.
Secondly, Commissioner Vestager explained, Google's conduct forced certain manufacturers not to use alternative versions of Android, though developed by “credible competitors”.
Thirdly, Google also gave significant financial incentives to some of the largest producers of smart phones and tablets and to mobile network operators, on condition that they exclusively pre-install Google Search on their devices. The Commission explains that it is not challenging financial incentives in general, but the conditions linked to these incentives in this specific case.
Commissioner Vestager had no particular comment to make about the fact that the Canadian and American competition authorities had found nothing reprehensible about Android's conduct in their investigations. She stressed that the case she was presenting to the press on Wednesday was based on the evidence collected by the Commission and on the conduct of Google observed on the European market. The conclusions reached by other competition authorities do not release the Commission from its obligation to enforce European competition rules, the Commissioner pointed out.
The American company now has 12 weeks to mount its defence. If its arguments are not enough to convince the institution, the company may be fined the equivalent of 10% of its turnover for the part in question, which would be €7 billion, according to the calculations of the Financial Times. The company would also have to change its practices, the Commissioner told the press conference.
Google has issued a press release stating that it takes “these concerns seriously, but we also believe that our business model keeps manufacturers' costs low and their flexibility high, while giving consumers unprecedented control of their mobile devices”.
The European Consumer Organisation (known by its French acronym, BEUC) welcomed the move and urged the Commission to come to a decision quickly. BEUC went on to say that it was experiencing a feeling of dejà vu, drawing a parallel with the case of Microsoft, which, in 2004, was accused of abuse of dominant position in connection with its operating system Windows for PCs. The Commission acknowledges that there are similarities between the two cases, but stresses that there are also differences.
Thomas Vinje, the spokesperson for FairSearch, a plaintiff in the Android case, said that he applauded the Commission's decision. “Virtually every phone maker using Android in the EU has bowed to Google's demands, suppressing competition by other app makers and preventing free choice for consumers”, he said.
The MEPs Andreas Schwab (EPP, Germany) and Ramon Tremosa (ALDE, Spain), who have been active on this dossier for several years, issued a joint press release in which they state that the Commission should not await the outcome of the two cases underway before it continues to take action on other aspects of Google's practices which are felt to be problematic.
In September of last year, Google responded to the Commission's arguments regarding Google Shopping. According to the French daily newspaper Le Monde, the Commission's final decision on Android could even precede the one on Google Shopping. (Original version in French by Elodie Lamer)