GOOGLE PAYS OUT $7.7 MILLION FOR VIOLATING RUSSIAN ANTIMONOPOLY LAW

MOSCOW, Russia – The Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service says it has received 438, 067,400 million Ruble, about $7.7 million from Google in payment for violating antimonopoly law in Russia.

In a statement, FAS said Google paid the 438,067,400 RUB as administrative fine on 9 May 2017. The 2-year dispute between the Federal Antimonopoly Service and “Google” ended in an amicable settlement at the Arbitration Court of the Moscow District on 17 April, 2017.

In the amicable settlement a mechanism was found for eliminating the consequences of the antimonopoly violations, earlier exposed by FAS, and support competition on the market of mobile applications, first of all, mobile search.

In September 2015 FAS found that Google violated Part 1 Article 10 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” (abusing market dominance).

Google actions led to prohibiting pre-installment of competing applications of other developers. As a result, due to refusals to other mobile device vendors, the most efficient channel for distributing applications – pre-installment – was fully reserved for “Google”.

The corporation also provided Google Play applications store to its counteragents – producers of the mobile devices aimed at sale in Russia on particular conditions. They included: mandatory pre-installment of other Google applications jointly with Google Play, priority positioning them on the screen, mandatory installation of Google search engine “by default”.

“We are confident that executing the conditions of the amicable settlement will enable competition development on the market of mobile software in Russia which will have a favourable effect upon consumers. The Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” must be observed by all companies that supply their products to Russia – and by transnational corporations in particular”, said Deputy Head of FAS Alexei Dotsenko.