Russia: Appeal by Google against abuse of dominance ruling

On 18 November 2016, Google filed an appeal against the ruling by the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation (FAS). The FAS had ruled that Google had abused its dominance in the mobile devices market. Specifically, Google implemented clauses into contracts with producers of mobile devices that oblige the producers to pre-install certain applications and set Google as the default search engine. Furthermore, Google gave its own applications allegedly a preferential screen location on mobile devices. Google must now adjust all contracts with producers of mobile devices within 1 month to comply with the law. The opening of this investigation had followed a complaint made by Yandex to the FAS. Administrative proceedings will still be initiated to determine the exact sanction. The monetary sanction can be anywhere between 1% and 15% of Google's turnover in the market of pre-installed applications in 2014.