Russian antitrust says truce with Google possible if breaches fixed

MOSCOW, Sep 26 (PRIME) -- An amicable agreement can be signed between Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service and Google, found guilty of violations on the mobile application market, at any stage of case hearings, if the U.S. giant admits violations and fixes them, the service’s Deputy Director Anatoly Golomolzin said Monday.

“The matter of principle for us – not only regarding Google, but also all other court disputes – is that we sign amicable agreements only when a company acknowledges the fact of violation of the antimonopoly law and takes steps to eliminate infringements and their consequences,” Golomolzin said.

“This means these are obligatory conditions to sign any amicable agreements.”

The antitrust service earlier found Google guilty for abusing its dominant position on the local market of preinstalled application stores and ordered it to revise contracts with device manufacturers, because the U.S. company used to force producers to install application store Google Play in a tie-up with other programs of the company.

The service fined Google 438 million rubles, and the pay date expired in late August. The company can face another fine of up to 500,000 rubles for disrespect of the order.

The authority and Google are also involved in court hearings, as the company challenged the service’s decision.

(63.8642 rubles – U.S. $1

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