The Economic Times daily newspaper is available online now.

    German, Australian competition watchdogs to follow CCI's steps on Google

    Synopsis

    Germany's national competition regulatory agency Bundeskartellamt and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), have been following the Competition Commission of India's actions on Google.

    Google CCI’s investigation_THUMB IMAGE_ETTECH (1)ETtech
    Antitrust regulators in Australia as well as Germany are among those “following recent action by the Competition Commission of India against Google”, they told ET, signalling increased global attention on policy rulings that challenge the dominance of large technology corporations by India, the world's largest data market.

    The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) constantly monitors enforcement action and regulatory developments in other jurisdictions in relation to digital platforms and “takes these into account in undertaking its various enforcement and inquiry functions", it said.

    Elevate Your Tech Prowess with High-Value Skill Courses

    Offering CollegeCourseWebsite
    IIM LucknowIIML Executive Programme in FinTech, Banking & Applied Risk ManagementVisit
    IIM KozhikodeIIMK Advanced Data Science For ManagersVisit
    Indian School of BusinessISB Product ManagementVisit
    “(ACCC) is aware of and has been following recent action by the Competition Commission of India against Google," a spokesperson told ET.

    Elsewhere, Germany's national competition regulatory agency Bundeskartellamt or the Federal Cartel Office, which initiated two investigations into Google’s business operations in 2021 aimed at examining its data terms and another looking at its News Showcase content licensing deals with publishers, said that it has “noted these decisions (by the CCI) with interest".

    On October 20, India’s competition watchdog imposed an Rs 1,337.76 crore fine on the search giant for what it termed as the abuse of its dominant position in multiple markets through the Android operating system.

    Less than a week later — on October 25 — CCI imposed a further penalty of Rs 936.44 crore on Google for flouting multiple provisions of the Competition Act, such as making its in-house payment and billing system mandatory for paid apps and in-app purchases on its Play Store. It also issued a cease-and-desist order on the American company.

    India’s ruling comes at a time when Google is embroiled in similar investigations by countries ranging from the US to Germany and Japan as well as the European Union.

    Legal experts are of the view that the CCI verdict could set a set a precedent for similar action aimed at regulating Google’s “market dominance” and could serve as a “signal to other large tech companies”.

    Noting that the CCI verdict draws from the Digital Markets Act and the general framework laid down by the European Commission in its decision against Google, Yaman Verma, a partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co's competition practice said the “Indian verdict goes beyond the European Commission's decision and broadens the scope of the remedies. The CCI’s decision addresses concerns in many additional markets."

    In its ruling, the CCI had mandated that device manufacturers should not be forced to install Google’s bouquet of apps and also ruled that the company should not deny access to its Play Services’ Application Programming Interfaces and monetary incentives to vendors.

    Global Moves

    To be sure, the ACCC has been at the forefront in cracking the whip on Big Tech. The News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code was passed by the Australian Parliament in February 2021 enabling news businesses to bargain individually or collectively with aggregators for inclusion of news on these platforms and services.

    In June this year, Germany's Federal Cartel Office opened an investigation into Google Germany and its US parent company, Alphabet, over "possible anti-competitive restrictions" of Google Maps to the detriment of other online maps providers.

    Legal experts also said that CCI's verdicts, especially on the Android issue, were more stringent than other jurisdictions and hence they believed that the verdicts have "opened Pandora's box for Google”.

    “Their (Google’s) big concern now would be that if India has taken such an approach, other countries might think and act against (the company) by following a similar path,” said Hitesh Jain, managing Partner at Parinam Law Associates, told ET.

    The CCI order is being widely perceived as more restrictive than the order of the European Commission against Google in 2018.

    "This has to be seen in the context of wider competition law/ antitrust scrutiny of the tech sector globally," said Gautam Shahi, partner with Dua Associates.

    Competition lawyers confirmed that Google is being investigated by the US, Russia, South Korea, Japan, Australia and the European Commission for their app store policies as well as issues surrounding ad tech and the like.
    The Economic Times

    Stories you might be interested in