The Digital Economy
| Date | 01 October 2016 |
| Author | Rupprecht Podszun |
| DOI | 10.1177/1023263X1602300501 |
| Published date | 01 October 2016 |
| Subject Matter | Guest Editorial |
23 MJ 5 (2016) 747
GUEST EDITORIAL
THE DIGITAL ECONOMY
ree Chances for Competition Law
R P*
is must surely be a record in speed of enforcement: on 18Februar y 2015, the Russian
antitrust authorit y (FAS)1 received a complaint against Google by a company named
Yandex, its competitor. Ten months later, on 18December of that same year, the FAS found
that Google violate d Part 1, Article10 of the Russian Law on Protection of C ompetition.2
ree months later, the Arbitration Court of Moscow upheld the authority’s decision,
so did the Appeal C ourt.3 On 11August this year, FAS decided to impose a ne of RUB
438million against G oogle.4 On 2September, an application from Google to suspend the
execution of the prohibition order was rejected, w ith the FAS arguing that it had already
granted an extension before.5 e theory of harm in the case was t hat Google abused a
dominant position for operating sys tems of mobile phones with its Android programme.
According to the FAS, Google obliged contractors to purchas e the entire Google Mobile
Services pack age, to pre-set Google search as default, to place Goog le apps favourably on
the screen and not to pre-instal l competitors’ apps.
From a European perspective, t he sheer speed of the Russian proceedings is breath-
taking. e Directorate General for Compet ition initiated proceedings against Google
in 2010 and ever since, the antitru st community is awaiting a decision in this la ndmark
case for competition in the digital economy.6 Actually, expectat ions by politicians and
* Professor, Chair for Civ il Law, German a nd European Compe tition Law at the Hein rich-Heine-
Universität Düssel dorf, and A liated Research Fe llow, Max Planck Inst itute for Innovation a nd
Competition, Munich.
1 Federal Anti-Monop oly Service of the Russi an Federation.
2 Federal Law ‘On Prote ction of Competition’ (as amend ed in 2016), adopted by the State Duma on 8July
2006, approved by t he Federat ion Counci l on 14July 2006, English ve rsion avai lable at htt p://en.fas.gov.ru/
documents/documentde tails.htm l?id=14737; a report on the Google Case wit h links to the Ru ssian
original s can be found here: FAS, Docu ment ‘Yandex vs Google’, 27 June 2016, http://en.fas.gov.ru/
documents/documentdetails. html?id=14677.
3 FAS Press Release, ‘Appeal Cou rt supported FAS in a disput e with “Google” ’, 17 August 2016,
http://en.fas. gov.ru/press-c enter/news/detai l.html?id= 46807.
4 FAS Press Release, ‘Fine on G oogle’, 12 August 2016, http://en.fas.gov.ru /press-center/news/
detail.html?id=46765.
5 FAS Press Release, ‘FAS dism issed a Google’s petit ion on prolongation of Ruling e xecution’,
14September 2016, http://en.fas.gov.ru/press -center/news/detail.htm l?id=47116.
6 Case AT.39740 – Google Search.
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