The European Commission find Google two point four billion euros for promoting its own shopping search results over competitors, and it gave the company until tomorrow to make changes to allow other services a better chance to compete. To comply with the order, Google has announced it will make its shopping service into a standalone company that will have to bid against other companies for space at the top of
the Google Search page. The CEO of Kelcu, however, Who's Which is one of Google's competitors in Europe, told Bloomberg News that selling slash to competitors won't solve the problems in the shopping search market. Here to talk with us about Google's move to comply with the regulator's order is Thomas, graphic partner at Cleary Gottlieb. Thomas, can you explain to
us exactly how Google's proposal here will work? Um? Yes, okay, So uh in a nott shell, what Google is going to do is it's going to give rival comparation shopping services the same chance to lays product thats on Google Search as it gives to Google Shopping. So there will be full equal treatment between comparation shopping services such as CALCU and Google Shopping. Google Shopping will have to bid in competition with comparation shopping services for placement of its
product that's on Google Search. Will the auction aspect of this, which might drive up the price of ads, be a problem for EU regulators? Um? Did the auction process is in here? And in the nature of of the issue here because sort of what is that issue? Is that the product that that Google shows on its on its general search result pages, these are ads. They have always
been auctioned off. What is going to change is that comparation shopping services will have the same opportunity to bid for these ads, and and so they will achieve the equal treatment that the European Commission is looking for. Well, why is it then that the competitors don't seem to like this idea very much? So it's uh, it's obviously, you know, different people may have different views, but what they are looking for? Um what what the views of
the competitors are? It's not really here the benchmark for compliance. The Commission has set out the paramidals for compliance in its decision and that's what Google is working towards. Now. It's possible that you know, over the process of this investigation. Uh, some of the complainants have uh developed expectations what this outcome will be, and it may be that, you know,
some of them are disappointment about the outcome. And it's also it's the case that at earlier stages in the investigation, the Commission, in one of its charge sheets, suggested that these arts should be made available to competitors almost at a near free basis at once sent the fixed price. But that fell away, that's no longer in the decision. So some of the complainants, like Calco may still be thinking that that's you know, that's the solution, but that's
not what is in the decision. Um. Your Competition Commissioner margretvest day Er said last week that she would start investigating if Google's offer doesn't work and if companies that complained about Google's behavior are still unhappy and we have Kelku and found them already complaining. So is that a built in problem? Yes, so I think, you know, I think it's normal that the Commission will listen to market participants, but ultimately the benchmark is not the view of competitors
or the market participants. The benchmark for compliance is what the decision sets out as its remedy and the requirements that are specified in the decision for a compliant remedy. So, Thomas, do you think that the Commission is, despite the whatever complaints the competitors may have, likely to approve what Google has done as being in compliance with disorder. So there is no formal approvement approval for seen in this process.
And that's that's different from the commitment procedure that Google was engaged with the European Commission earlier in the process, where Google was trying to negotiate commitments and those commitments required approval, required the decision of acceptance by the Commission. Here, the Commission has adopted its decision. It has said how Google needs to comply, and it's then for Google to
ensure this compliance. And there's not going to be any kind of formal approval um obviously if there is, if there is, if there is non compliance, then the commit may intervene, but it will not it will not issue a formal approval decision. All right, Well, our thanks to Thomas Graff, a partner at Clary Gottlieb, who joined us from Brussels to talk about Google spinning off its shopping services in the European Union into a separate company