US Internet giant Google must come up with “new solutions” to meet complaints from competitors about its proposed anti-trust settlement with Brussels, EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia has said.<\/p>\n
Google and the Commission agreed a deal in February over charges the world’s largest search engine was squeezing out competitors in Europe, so avoiding potentially billions in fines against the company.<\/p>\n
In that agreement, Google accepted to give equal prominence to rival services in its search results after competitors — including Microsoft and TripAdvisor — argued the company has abused its dominant position in the European market, where it accounts for 90 percent of traffic.<\/p>\n
At that time, Almunia said he had expected to wrap up the deal once the last competitor complaints were resolved and before the end of his mandate on October 31.<\/p>\n
However since then “some complainants introduced new arguments, new data, new considerations”, Almunia told Bloomberg TV in an interview late Monday.<\/p>\n
“We need to analyse this and to see if… Google can find solutions to some of these concerns that we consider justified,” he said.<\/p>\n
EU rules state that a company found at fault in an anti-trust probe can be fined up to 10 percent of its annual sales, in Google’s case some $55.5 billion in 2013.<\/p>\n
European lawmakers Ramon Tremosa and Andreas Schwab, who have fought hard to see the Commission’s proposed deal with Google shelved, welcomed Almunia’s “long awaited change of direction”.<\/p>\n
The MEPs said the decision “is necessary” as the proposed solution “does not solve the underlying problem of traffic diversion to solely the benefit of Google services.”<\/p>\n
They added that the “pressure would be maintained” on the incoming competition commissioner who is expected to be named later this week.<\/p>\n
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