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The
European Commission handed down the fine to the company in 2017
for using its own price comparison shopping service to gain an
unfair advantage over smaller European rivals.
The shopping case was the first of three EU decisions that
resulted in a total of 8.25 billion euros in fines for Google
last decade.
Advocate General at the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)
Juliane Kokott said judges should confirm the fine.
"Google, as found by the Commission and confirmed by the General
Court, was leveraging its dominant position on the market for
general search services to favour its own comparison shopping
service by favouring the display of its results," she said.
Judges, who follow the majority of such non-binding
recommendations, will rule in the coming months. A lower
tribunal sided with the EU competition enforcer in 2021.
Google said it would review the opinion and wait for the court
ruling.
"Irrespective of the appeal, we continue to invest in our
remedy, which has been working successfully for several years,
and will continue to work constructively with the European
Commission," a spokesperson said.
EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager is scheduled to meet
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and other Big Tech leaders in the
United States later on Thursday to discuss competition and
digital issues.
Google has also challenged the other two rulings regarding its
Android mobile operating system and AdSense advertising service.
The case is C-48/22 P Google and Alphabet v Commission (Google
Shopping).
($1 = 0.9115 euros)
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee and Benoit Van OverstraetenEditing by
Mark Potter)
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