Mathilde Baker

The General Court has annulled the EUR 1.49 billion fine imposed on Google. The Commission had failed to properly assess the allegedly abusive contractual clauses related to online advertising, including whether they actually had a lock-in effect.

The Commission recently published its Draft Guidelines on Exclusionary Abuses of Dominance, which are meant to reflect the EU case law. However, they seem to deviate on important aspects, arguably simplifying the assessment for establishing an abuse.