Google offers new concessions to avoid fine in EU antitrust case

By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS — Google has offered more concessions to end a three-year investigation into complaints that it blocks competitors and to avoid a possible $5 billion fine, the European Commission said Monday.

The new proposal comes two months after the Commission, the EU’s antitrust regulator, asked the world’s most popular search engine to take more measures to address concerns that it blocks rivals, including Microsoft, from internet search results.

“The commission has received the proposal from Google and is assessing it,” European Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd said. He did not provide details or say whether the rivals would have a chance to assess the concessions.

“Our proposal to the European Commission addresses four areas of concern. We continue to work with the Commission to resolve this matter,” Google spokesman Al Verney said.

Lobby group FairSearch, which includes Microsoft (MSFT) and other complainants including online travel agency Expedia (EXPE), British price comparison site Foundem and French Twenga, has called on the Commission to seek the views of its rivals.

“Given that Google did not make a serious offer last time, we believe it is necessary to consult Google’s customers and competitors in a full, second market test,” FairSearch attorney Thomas Vinje said in a statement.

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Google (GOOG), which has a market share of more than 80 percent in Europe of internet search according to research firm comScore (SCOR), informed the Commission in April that it intends to differentiate its services from those of its competitors in internet search results.

It also proposed providing links to at least three competing search engines and making it easier for advertisers to move search engine ad campaigns to competing platforms. However, competitors said Google’s offer was insufficient and would only strengthen its dominance.

The Commission found that Google may have favoured its own search services over those of its rivals and copied travel and restaurant reviews from rival sites without permission. The EU executive is also concerned that the company may have imposed restrictions on advertisers and ads to prevent them from moving their online campaigns to rival search engines.

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