MOSCOW, November 2. /TASS/. The Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has reviewed the issue of additional penalties for Google due to the company’s non-compliance with the orders regarding the Android case and decided to set two fines for the company’s structures for a total amount of 1 mln rubles ($15,765).
"FAS Russia Google Inc. and Google Ireland Limited are administratively responsible for non-compliance with orders. The service has set the fine of 500,000 ($7,868) for each company. Earlier FAS refused to extend Google’s deadline for complying with the requirements," FAS said.
These are the first fines for the corporation for non-compliance with orders. Earlier, Head of FAS Igor Artemyev told journalists that FAS could fine Google every two weeks if the company delays enforcing regulations of the service.
On November 1, the Moscow Arbitration Court adjourned the case of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) fine for Google for December 8.
Additionally, the Court has decided to review the case behind closed doors. Thus, the court rejected the application of the Russian company Yandex to be involved in the case as a third party.
Yandex is going to study the court’s ruling and will decide on the appeal, the company told TASS. The lawyer of the company also talked about the possibility of filing an appeal in court. According to Google representative, the Russian company does not have the right to participate in this case, because it was not granted a victim status under Russia’s Code of Administrative Offences.
In September 2015, the Federal Antimonopoly Service ruled that Google Inc. and Google Ireland Ltd. had breached the competition protection law under the complaint of the Russian Internet company Yandex. According to the regulator, Google obliged manufacturers of Android OS-based devices to pre-install its applications together with Android platform. FAS said that Google’s policy restricted installation of applications by other developers. Google did not agree with the ruling and appealed to the court.
Google did not agree with FAS decision and appealed to the court. On February 5, 2015, the Court brought Yandex as a third party in the case and decided to hold hearings behind closed doors. On March 14, the Moscow Arbitration Court has dismissed the lawsuit Google filed against Russia’s FAS.
In March 2016, the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) initiated administrative proceedings against Google to determine the amount of fine under part 2 article 14.31 of the Russian Code of Administrative Offences. According to the article, in view of the abuse of dominant position on the market of operating systems for mobile devices in Russia, Google as the owner of the Android OS can pay a fine ranging from 1% to 15% of its revenues on the Russian market in 2014.
On September 29, Google started to notify 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.
The company’s actions, however, will not affect the previously appointed fine for abusing its dominant position on the market of mobile application stores in the Russian Federation, but prevent additional fines.