Google must comply with orders in full to avoid new penalty — regulator

MOSCOW, September 30. /TASS/. The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) of Russia will study the notice previously sent by Google to Russian users of smartphones running the Android operating system (owned by Google). The American corporation must comply with orders in full, Head of FAS Department for Regulation of Communications and Information Technologies Elena Zaeva told TASS on Friday.

"We are guided by the requirements of the law, which states that partial compliance with order does not equal fulfillment. Of course, we look closely at these notifications - the way they are sent, the way they look, but Google must comply with the orders in full," Zaeva said.

In Thursday, September 29, Google started notifying Russian users of the Android devices about the possibility of changing the search engine, deactivating pre-installed applications, installing third-party services (including third-party search engines and widgets, email, calendar, and other services) and changing position of application icons.

Google noted it continues to work with FAS on technical execution of their orders.

"If in the near future violations do not disappear - we will be obliged by the law to apply administrative measures. If the violations are fixed - there will be no penalty," Zaeva said, talking about a penalty for failure to comply with the orders in the amount of 300,000-500,000 rubles ($4,759 - $7.933).

However, Google's actions will not affect the previously appointed fine of 438.1 mln rubles ($6.9 mln) for abusing its dominant position on the market of mobile application stores in the Russian Federation, Zaeva noted. "The turnover penalty, imposed earlier for violation of the antitrust laws, will not be revised. Only court can revise that," she explained.

Earlier FAS said it would fine Google for failure to comply with the order to eliminate violations of the antimonopoly legislation in time.