Russian antitrust opens administrative case against Google

MOSCOW, Mar 15 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service opened an administrative case against Google for abusing a dominant position on the market on Monday and summoned the company’s representative to its office on March 31, according to the authority’s documents released Tuesday.

The U.S. company’s representative “will explain the fact of violations and sign a protocol on the administrative infringement,” the antitrust service said.

The Moscow Arbitration Court dismissed an appeal of Google against the service’s decision on Monday, which earlier found the U.S. company guilty of abusing its dominant position on the market of preinstalled application stores.

The court heard the case behind the closed doors on Google’s request as materials of the case contained strictly confidential information.

The service found Google guilty and the company was ordered to fix all infringements by the end of the year in September 2015. The service opened the case on request from Internet giant Yandex, which was later involved in the hearings as a third party.

The antitrust watchdog’s head Igor Artemyev said in late 2015 that Google could face a fine of 8% of its turnover on the market in case of no mitigating circumstances.

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