European Union: EC broadened scope of its investigation into Google for alleged violations of EU competition rules by including Portuguese administrative offence proceedings

On 27 July 2022, the European Commission (EC) took over the administrative offence proceedings of the Portuguese Competition Authority (AdC) in the same investigation that the EC opened against Google last year, on 22 June 2021. The AdC initiated administrative offence proceedings against Google on 17 May 2022, under secrecy, for abuse of its dominant position after receiving a complaint. According to the AdC, there is evidence of Google using data in a self-preferencing fashion to influence the outcomes of advertising auctions, as well as possible actions to limit the development of auction technology. Due to the findings and its scope, the European Commission informed the AdC on 27 July 2022 (following Regulation EC No. 1/2003) that it will expand its own investigation into Google to the Portuguese market. As such, the Member State's competence passes to the European Commission, which continues its investigation with a broadened scope, while the AdC will close its respective investigation.