FAS could bring action against Google to enforce compliance with order - Artemyev
MOSCOW. Nov 23 (Interfax) - The Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) might bring action against Google to enforce compliance with its order, Igor Artemyev, the regulator's chief, told reporters.
"The state always has a lot of ways to enforce compliance by companies with rulings by its own courts, and the state will never come to terms with such rulings being ignored," he said.
"Now we're at the stage when we impose another fine on the company. After the repeat fine, if the company does not comply with our order, we will bring action to enforce compliance," he said.
The FAS launched an investigation against Google in February 2015 following a complaint from Russian Internet company Yandex. In October 2015, the regulator ordered Google to unbundle apps store Google Play from other services, including search. Google was supposed to remove restrictions on the installation of the apps and services of other developers from its agreements with vendors. Existing users of Android devices were supposed to be informed that it was possible to deactivate preinstalled Google apps, change the search engine in the Google Chrome browser, install a different search widget and change the layout of icons.
The FAS also fined Google 438 million rubles for violating competition law.
The regulator's order has gone unheeded for more than a year now, for which Google Inc. and Google Ireland were fined an additional 500,000 rubles each in November. The deadline for complying with the order is November 28, after which the FAS will impose a repeat fine, which Artemyev said would also be a modest 1 million rubles.
But a he said a second administrative fine and further non-compliance with the order would constitute multiple infringements, for which there were grounds to bring enforcement action, involving bailiffs and criminal responsibility.
The FAS also has several more measures it could apply against the company, Artemyev said.
A Google representative contacted by Interfax did not say whether the company had complied with the FAS order or to what extent.
