Russian antitrust, Google still work on amicable agreement

MOSCOW, Jul 29 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service and Google, which was earlier found guilty of abusing its dominant position on the market of preinstalled application stores, are discussing an amicable agreement, Deputy Director Andrei Tsarikovsky told reporters Friday.

“The Google company has the idea of reaching an amicable agreement. The process is going rather well now, but it is only on the level of consultations now. I am unable to demonstrate a signed amicable deal now,” he said.

He said that the service may soften its position on the matter only if Google acknowledges its guilt and eliminates the violation.

“If there is no admission of guilt, we will not sign an amicable agreement,” he said.

On July 14, the service said it will on August 11 consider the amount of fine for Google.

The service’s Director Igor Artemyev said earlier in July that the authority hopes to conclude an amicable agreement with Google prior to a court hearing on August 16, or sue.

The service earlier delayed consideration of the size of the fine for Google, which contested the service’s decision, but the court dismissed the move. The U.S. company filed an appeal, whose consideration was delayed until August 16.

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