Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2013/02/01/brussels_now_scrutinising_google_remedy_proposals/
Brussels reviews Google's plan for not being abusive and dominant
'OK, let's check if this can work. No, don't Google it'
Posted in Legal, 1st February 2013 10:02 GMT
The competition wing of the European Commission confirmed this morning that its officials were currently poring over Google's latest search business remedy proposals, after the company submitted a document to Brussels yesterday.
"We have received proposals by Google which we are now analysing," said Antoine Colombani, who is a spokesman for antitrust commissioner Joaquin Almunia.
Google has declined to comment on the matter.
Details of the latest proposal to the EC from the search and ad giant were kept secret.
This isn't the first time the company has tried to placate the commission with concessions regarding how it does business in online search in Europe, where the company commands more that 90 per cent of the market.
As The Register was first to report on Thursday, Google submitted its proposal to Almunia's office in the eleventh hour. A deadline of 31 January had been set by the commissioner and Google took it right to the wire.
Almunia has said that he hopes not to have initiate sanctions against Google - he's very keen to strike deal a with the multi-billion dollar corporation, whose chairman Eric Schmidt has been horse-trading with the commission for many months now.
In mid-December Almunia said that Google must convince its rivals that it competes fairly in the web search market or else it could - within months - face sanctions for alleged "abuse of dominance".
Many of Google's competitors, including a bruised Microsoft, have long complained that the ad giant favours its own services over its rivals' products in web search results. Google could be fined $4bn - 10 per cent of its revenue - if no deal can be reached and it loses a subsequent legal battle with the European Commission. ®