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The new complaint could strengthen the case against Google, possibly
giving enough ammunition to EU antitrust regulators to eventually
charge the company with anti-competitive business practices, on top
of accusations related to its Google Shopping service.
The formal request was filed in April 2015 and largely mirrors the
Russian company's claims against the U.S. company in a Russian
anti-monopoly case that Yandex won.
Russia's competition watchdog ruled in September that Google had
broken the law by requiring pre-installation of its search
application on mobile devices running on its Android operating
system.
"We think that the Russian finding of abuse of dominance is
instructive, and is a conclusion that can readily be adopted in
other jurisdictions, including the EU," Yandex said.
Yandex is one of the few companies to publicly complain about
Android.
It joins U.S. tech firm Disconnect, Portuguese app store Aptoide,
and lobbying group FairSearch whose members include Microsoft,
Expedia, TripAdvisor and French price comparison site Twenga.
Yandex, which rivals Google in Turkey as well as Russia and several
other former Soviet republics, said its business development in
Europe would depend, among other factors, on the outcome of the
European Commission's investigation.
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"We hope the European Commission ... offers their help in restoring
fair competition and ensuring equal opportunity to pre-install
mobile applications on Android-based devices not only for Google,
but also for other developers," it said.
Yandex is ahead of Google in Russia with a search market share of
around 60 percent, but it has been slow expanding abroad - a
position it flagged when selling shares in a $1.3 billion initial
public offering on Nasdaq in 2011.
(Reporting by Maria Kiselyova, editing by William Hardy)
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