Google has reached a settlement with Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) agency in the antitrust case the Russian search rival Yandex had originally..
Google has reached a settlement with Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service ( FAS ) agency in the antitrust case the Russian search rival Yandex had originally filed, claiming Google had violated local competition rules. The case revolved around how Google had required handset makers to pre-load their devices with Google apps and services in order to also gain access the Google Play Store application.
FAS had imposed a fine of 438M RUB (~$7.8M) on Google , following the antitrust ruling issued in September 2015. The fine amounts to 9 percent of Google’s revenue in Russia in 2014, plus inflations, Russian news agency TASS says.
The news of the out-of-court settlement was first reported by Reuters , and its details are also available on FAS’s website. According to Reuters, the settlement deal was approved by a Russian court on Monday, and is for a term of six years and nine months.
Per the terms of the agreement, Google will no longer demand exclusivity of its applications on Android devices in Russia, and it will not restrict the pre-installation of any competing search engines and applications – including on the Android home screen, FAS states.
