The Court of Justice of the EU has ruled in favour of the European Commission in a legal case that has pitted it against Google/Alphabet since June 2017 (see EUROPE 11817/1). In a final ruling handed down on Tuesday 10 September, the CJEU confirmed the €2.4 billion fine imposed on Google for abusing its dominant position by promoting its own product comparison service (case C-48/22 P).
“Today is a great victory for the people of Europe. This is a turning point in the history of regulatory action against major technology companies”, said a visibly moved Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.
In 2017, the European Commission ruled that the US giant was abusing its dominant position by giving its Google Shopping price comparator an illegal advantage over its competitors.
The General Court of the European Union, to which Google appealed, subsequently upheld the fine. In a final appeal, Google then appealed to the CJEU.
In its press release, the CJEU notes that EU law “does not criminalise the existence of a dominant position per se, but only the abusive exploitation thereof”. In particular, “conduct by undertakings in a dominant position which restricts competition on the merits is prohibited”. It finally confirms the decision of the EU General Court: “Having regard to the characteristics of the market and the specific circumstances of the case, Google’s conduct was discriminatory and did not amount to competition on the merits”.
Record fines. “This is a victory for the Commission. It is also a victory for tax justice”, said Margrethe Vestager. This is the second highest financial penalty ever imposed by the EU in an antitrust case.
In 2018, the Commission imposed a record fine of €4.3 billion on Google for abusing its dominant position in the Android operating system for mobile phones (see EUROPE 11817/1). “Of course, a dominant company is free to innovate in any field, but it cannot rely on the competitive advantage it already has because of its position”, said Margrethe Vestager.
This decision by the CJEU brings to an end a 14-year-old procedure initiated by the European Commission in November 2010, when it decided to open an investigation into alleged breaches of antitrust rules by Google.
Google said in a statement that it was “disappointed” by the Court’s decision, arguing that the search engine had already made changes to its operations to comply with the Commission’s expectations.
Google has accumulated €8.25 billion in fines for anti-competitive practices over the last ten years in the EU. Under fire in the United States, the company is also at risk of being penalised for anti-competitive practices in the online advertising market.
On the same day, in another symbolic ruling for the EU, the Court of Justice ruled that Apple should pay back €13 billion in back taxes to Ireland for having benefited from undue tax advantages, deemed to be illegal State aid (see other news). (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)