Last June, the European Commission fined Google €2.4 billion and the EU gave the company 60 days to prepare a proposal and 90 days to implement it. Today, the deadline for submitting the proposal has expired .
Google has been accused of violating antitrust laws . The main reason is that the company has abused its dominant position as a search engine, since Google has promoted its online shopping comparison service on its own search engine. This is doing a significant disservice to its consumers.
It is not yet known what measures Google will take to modify its search engine. The European Commission has also refused to give any clues as to what should change. It has only stated in an emailed statement that “the obligation to comply is entirely Google’s responsibility.”
In addition, EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has said she will austria phone number continue to investigate Google, with a particular focus on the company's travel and mapping services.
Once Google presents its new search plan, the EU has one month to ensure that the multinational's modifications comply with the demands. For its part, the company must make these changes before September 28. If they are not made, Google will be obliged to pay the EU 5% of daily revenue for each day of non-compliance.
Other large companies have also been fined by the European Union. In 2004, Microsoft breached antitrust laws and was fined 899 million euros in 2008. In 2009, Intel breached an order to stop anti-competitive discounts on chip sales to computer manufacturers. The latter multinational is still awaiting a fine of 1.06 billion euros on 6 September.