Portugal: Closed Portuguese Competition Authority (AdC) investigation into Google for self-preferencing practices

On 6 September 2022, the Portuguese Competition Authority (AdC) closed its investigation into Google, after being informed by the European Commission (EC) on 27 July 2022 that it would extend its own investigation against Google to the Portuguese market. This is in line with Regulation EC No. 1/2003, pursuant to which the EC can broaden the scope of a national investigation to one encompassing the entirety of the European Union. The AdC had opened administrative offence proceedings against Google for abuse of its dominant position on 17 May 2022. Previously, the AdC received a complaint against Google's anti-competitive practices which led to the analysis of the affected markets and interviewing of relevant economic operators. Specifically, the AdC investigated the online advertising market to discover whether Google engaged in self-preferencing behaviours by using information not accessible to competitors during online advertisement auctions.