EU: Foundem reminds Commission to ‘think again’ on Google case

Price comparison website Foundem has reportedly published an open letter to the European Commission asking the regulator to review its complaint against Google as reports suggest that authorities will be taking another look at a proposed settlement with the search conglomerate.

According to reports, Foundem asked European Commissioner Joaquin Almunia to take another look at a July 11 letter the company sent to the Commission that criticizes the Commission’s decision to settle with Google after years of investigating its market dominance. In an open letter published Wednesday, Foundem highlights what it considers major errors and inconsistencies in the Commission’s reasoning for reaching a settlement with Google.

”Whatever sequence of events led you to accept Google’s misleading arguments without displaying any of the healthy skepticism that would normally be applied to ‘evidence’ from a defendant in a competition case, we trust that the attached comprehensive rebuttal of those arguments will persuade you to think again and change course,” Foundem’s letter says.

Foundem was directly responding to the Commission’s own letter sent out last month to Google complainants explaining why the Commission decided to accept proposed concessions from Google.

While Almunia has appeared set to accept the concessions and close the case with Google before he ends his time with the Commission later this year, the latest reports that emerged this week suggest EU authorities may actually take another look at the settlement deal.

Full content: PC World

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