Russian antitrust says Google unlikely to pay lowest fine after suit

MOSCOW, Nov 30 (PRIME) – Google has no more right for a minimum fine because it has contested a decision of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service; an amicable settlement at court is possible, but the authority is not ready for it, the antitrust service’s Director Igor Artemyev said Monday.

“Since they are in litigation with us and have not fulfilled our order, what cooperation can we talk about? There is adversary process. It means that if we ultimately win at court, (Google) will have no right for the lowest fine,” Artemyev said.

The antitrust watchdog found in September the U.S. company guilty of violating the antimonopoly law by abusing its dominant position on preinstalled Android applications store market and ordered the company to eliminate all infringements by December 18.

Google can be fined by 1–15% of its turnover on the Russian market of preinstalled stores for 2014.

The U.S. company still can hypothetically pay the lowest fine, if it strikes an amicable agreement with the authority, but the latter is not ready for it, Artemyev said.

“I am not personally suggesting that. The situation is different now, I think, we should sue and prove our rightness,” he said.

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