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Antimonopoly watchdog to insist on Google’s performance of order for settlement signing

The fine may be probably reduced, according to the head of the service Igor Artemyev

MOSCOW, March 1. /TASS/. Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service will insist on performance of its order by Google for settlement signing, head of the service Igor Artemyev told reporters on Wednesday.

"We will insist on fulfillment of our order," Artemyev said.

The fine may be probably reduced, the official said. "The fine is not the most significant for us, although it is important for budget replenishment. It is important for us to restore competition on the market," he added.

The fine may be probably reduced, the official said. "The fine is not the most significant for us, although it is important for budget replenishment. It is important for us to restore competition on the market," he added.

"We said the doors are still open, despite this long wandering story. We would like to demonstrate once again the doors are open for all and such accommodating initiatives may be put forward at any time, because we believe nevertheless a rupture is not preferable to a patchwork peace," Artemyev said.

The regulator resorted to an "unprecedented thing" although FAS received Goggle’s application for settlement literally on the verge of the court session, the official said.

If Google is ready for a settlement providing real performance of FAS order, the regulator will agree upon it with the company on FAS conditions, Artemyev added.

Google approached FAS with a proposal to make a settlement, the regulator said on Tuesday. Conditions of the settlement have not been discussed yet, FAS said earlier.

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.

On September 29, 2016, 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.

Google lodged an appeal against the court judgement in favor of FAS regarding the case on abusing dominant position.

Head of Russia’s antimonopoly regulator Igor Artemyev also said earlier that the US company was delaying performance of the regulator’s order by its lawsuits.

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