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Google makes reaching amicable agreement with Russian watchdog unlikely — official

According to the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service chief, Google is delaying implementation of agency’s regulations by issuing counter claims

MOSCOW, September 27. /TASS/. Google behavior makes reaching amicable agreement between the company and the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) unlikely, although it is legally possible, Head of FAS Igor Artemyev told reporters on Tuesday.

"Theoretically, anything is possible, but in recent years the company’s behavior makes me think that reaching amicable agreement is nearly impossible," Artemyev said.

Artemyev noted that the American company is delaying implementation of agency’s regulations by issuing counter claims.

Artemyev said earlier that FAS would fine Google if the company delays enforcing regulations of the service. "If there are delays in the process, we will gather every two weeks and issue new fines. This will go on until the final victory end and the court’s decision. This is normal," he said.

Earlier the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) said it would fine Google for failure to comply with the order to eliminate violations of the antimonopoly legislation in time.

"If the requirement is not met, a non-compliance penalty will be set, starting from 500,000 rubles ($7.721) and then it double. We will fine as much as necessary for non-compliance with the regulations, until they are fulfilled," Head of the Antimonopoly Service Igor Artemyev said.

Deadline for enforcing Google regulation should not be moved, Artemyev noted. "I believe that we should not move it. They had more than enough time," he said.

According to the agency’s statement, FAS refused extending the deadline for Google. "The decision took into account that 10 months ago the period for performing the requirements have been already extended on Google's request for 1 month, until December 18, 2015 - and for the same reasons: because of the need for a "significant amount of work"," FAS said. The agency noted that the content of the new request presented no evidence of a significant change in circumstances relating to the execution of orders. In addition, the petition was filed in violation of the terms established by the law on protection of competition.

FAS is currently preparing to conduct an administrative investigation into the failure to comply with the ruling.

 

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