The EC revealed the concessions Google has agreed to make yesterday following months of bickering over the power the Californian search engine giant has in Europe.

Rival links

According to technology website V3, the commitments include labelling Google search results returned from its own services in boxes and ensuring at least three other rival links are placed nearby. It will let firms choose which elements of their sites can and cannot be included in search results without affecting their rankings and remove obligations on advertisers to sign ad platform deals exclusively with the firm.

Large fines

Paul Stone, competition and regulatory partner at City law firm Charles Russell said the move by Google was a smart one.
‘It’s a very sensible approach to take. Where you think the Commission has serious concerns you could try and fight it to prove there is no issue but you can be slapped with large fines if this happens,’ said Mr Stone. ‘Offering commitments is a practical way to bring the investigation to an end and it means of the EC agrees to the commitments you aren’t technically found to have infringed the rules.’
However, the so-called peace offering has not been universally welcomed. Shivaun Raff, chief executive of search site Foundem which strongly attacked Google over its European tactics, described the concessions as ‘half hearted’, and added that  they would not eradicate ‘Google’s ability to hijack the traffic and revenues of its rivals’.