Bloomberg: EU failed to respond to Google’s attempt to settle Android case

According to sources from financial news agency Bloomberg, the EU did not respond to an attempt by Google to settle the Android case, in which a fine of €4.3 billion was recently imposed by the EU.

Google is said to have drafted a letter in August 2017, in which it proposed possible changes as a result of the Android investigation by the European Commission. It did so because competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said two months earlier, when announcing the $2.4 billion fine for Google Shopping, that no conclusion had been reached in the other two investigations, Bloomberg said. However, according to the EU, Google’s proposal came too late.

Vestager allegedly hinted in an interview that Google should have come up with a proposal in 2016. Google therefore did not receive an official answer to his letter, but heard through detours that a settlement was no longer possible. In the letter, Google would have offered to relax certain restrictions and distribute apps in different ways. Based on sources, Bloomberg further reports that there was little contact between the Commission and Google until last April. Then a so-called state of play meeting took place, but the course towards a record fine would have already been set.

It was recently announced that Google must pay a fine of 4.34 billion euros for abuse of power with its mobile operating system Android. According to the Commission, Google engaged in illegal tying by requiring its Search app and Chrome browser to be pre-installed on Android devices. In addition, Google allegedly paid manufacturers to install Search on their devices and actively thwarted Android forks. Google is appealing.