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The OIP welcomes the decision of the European Court of Justice confirming the conviction of Google in the Google Shopping case, and calls for effective precautionary measures

The OIP welcomes the decision of the European Court of Justice confirming the conviction of Google in the Google Shopping case, and calls for effective precautionary measures.

The Open Internet Project (OIP) welcomes the decision of the European Court of Justice, which today upheld on appeal the conviction of Google by the European Commission in the Google Shopping case, in which the OIP was a party involved. This long-awaited decision on this emblematic case confirms the merits of the actions taken by Commissioner Margrethe Vestager in regulating the abusive behavior of internet giants, and calls for measures to put an end to it much more quickly.

Cour de Justice Européenne

With this decision finding Google wrong despite the means deployed by the latter, the Court confirms that the European Commission was right to condemn Google in 2017 to a fine of 2.4 billion euros for preferential treatment of its own price comparator Google Shopping, to the detriment of its competitors.

This is a historic decision which confirms for the first time the principle that a digital player in a dominant position cannot promote its own services in a privileged way: preferential treatment is considered to be discriminatory and therefore prohibited and sentenced.

The OIP was a party to the case, which “officially” lasted more than 11 years!

« While the OIP is very satisfied with the outcome of this case, we recall that today we are celebrating this victory over the cemetery of price comparison sites to which Google has become a competitor, most of which have long since disappeared because no company can survive. 11 years against a multi-recidivist delinquent who abuses his dominant position on a market to crush his competitors.»
Quentin Adam, Co-President of the OIP

Given the investigation times that are totally incompatible with the reality of a constantly changing digital economy, the OIP recalls the need to make interim measures effective and applicable, in order to prevent devastating collateral effects such as those observed in this case and to end it before it is too late for the victims.

« Only precautionary measures can prevent the death of innovative competing players, because they make it possible to interrupt a presumed abusive practice in the very short term, the time that the investigation can then be carried out with the investigation on the merits.»
Léonidas Kalogeropoulos, General Delegate of the OIP.

Contacts:

Léonidas Kalogeropoulos, General Delegate : +33607315126 –  l.k@openinternetproject.eu

Anaïs Strauss, Adviser :+33757503010 – anais.strauss@openinternetproject.eu

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