Google rejects EU complaints

EU suspicions that Google's shopping service might violate competition laws are factually, legally and economically unsound, the Internet giant's general counsel Kent Walker said in a blog on Thursday.

"We believe that the EU statement of objections' preliminary conclusions is wrong as a matter of fact, law and economics," Walker insisted, referring to the bloc's official complaint filed in April of this year.

The EU executive has been probing Google practices since November 2010, after competitors complained about the company's supremacy in the Internet search engine market. The US-based company dominates online search, boasting a 90-percent share of the general web search segment.

Ball back in the EU's court

Over the last 10 years, Internet traffic to aggregators such as price comparison websites had increased by 227 percent in the countries covered by the EU's complaint, Google said, arguing that its services had not unlawfully stifled its rivals.

"The company maintains that its Google Shopping services improves the quality of adverts and helps customers find what they're after," the blog said. "That's not favoring; that's giving our customers and advertisers what they find most useful."

Google had until Monday to reply to the Commission's concerns after the deadline was twice extended.

The EU's competition watchdog confirmed it had received the reply.

"We will carefully consider Google's response before taking any decision on how to proceed, and do not want to prejudge the final outcome of the investigation," said Commission spokesman Ricardo Cardoso.

Google could face a fine of up to 10 percent of its global turnover if it's found to be in violation of EU competition rules.

hg/nz (AFP, dpa)