Google antitrust case: penalty requirement

9.9.2014

Question for written answer E-006691-14
to the Commission
Rule 130
Ramon Tremosa i Balcells (ALDE) , Andreas Schwab (PPE)

In response to the arguments of complainants that the wording of Google’s commitment proposal does not actually require Google to display links to rivals alongside its own Google Shopping results, the Commission in its pre-rejection letters pointed only to the live hyperlink text headers appearing in Google Shopping results (‘Shop for (product) on Google’) as the basis for triggering Google’s obligation to display rival links.

On the Commission’s analysis, if Google deactivates those hyperlinks, making them simple text headers that do not link to any other pages, it will not be under any obligation to display rival links when Google Shopping results are displayed in their current format.

Is it not the case that Google has already started displaying Google Shopping results with the hyperlink header deactivated when search results from some member country sites are viewed by users outside the EEA?