In a ruling published on Tuesday 25 February in case C-233/23 between Alphabet (Google’s parent company) and the Italian competition authority, the Court of Justice of the EU ruled that Google had abused its dominant position by refusing to ensure the interoperability of its apps.
The case, which originated in Italy and dates back to 2021, originally pitted Google against Enel X, which had developed an app enabling drivers to locate and reserve charging points for their electric vehicles.
To make it easier to locate the charging points, Enel X had asked Google to make the app compatible with Android Auto, Google’ s system for accessing smartphone apps directly on the vehicle’s screen.
When Google refused, the Italian antitrust authority (AGCM) imposed a fine of more than €102 million on the company, considering that this behaviour constituted an abuse of a dominant position.
The Court confirmed the validity of this decision today, ruling that it was in line with EU law.
The abuse of a dominant position “is not limited” to cases where another company is prevented from doing business and carrying on its activity, but where, as in this case, the undertaking in a dominant position “did not develop the platform solely for the needs of its own business, but with a view to enabling third-party undertakings to use it”.
The CJEU acknowledges that, under certain conditions, Google could prevent the interoperability of Enel X, but only for security reasons linked to “the fact that there is no template for the category of apps concerned”.
To see the judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/fna (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)