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Google’s last-ditch effort to block the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) antitrust ruling in the Android case did not get any immediate relief on Monday from the Supreme Court, which posted the matter for January 18.
Google has only until January 19 to implement the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) directions in the Android case, or else it may have to change its business model.
Read also: Google contrived emergency in seeking stay on Android ruling: Supreme Court
During the hearing on Monday, the three-member SC Bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud orally queried Google’s counsel, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, as to whether the tech giant would be ready to practice the same regime in India as what it had agreed to in Europe (post the European Commission directions in a similar Android case).
“Please reflect on this and come back,” the CJI said. The other members of the SC bench hearing the matter are PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala.
Different standards
The CJI also observed that by filing an appeal on the eleventh hour before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) against the order of the CCI in the Android matter, Google “contrived emergency” in seeking a stay.
N Venkatraman, Additional Solicitor General of India, representing CCI, sought to know as to why Google was discriminating between a European consumer and an Indian consumer, highlighting that a double standard is being adopted by the tech giant in the Android abuse of dominance case in both jurisdictions.
Venkatraman told the bench that Google had different standards in Europe and India.
“We are going to show some shocking data. Their grievance that they’re unable to comply with the order within 90 days doesn’t stand because they’re fully complying with the order passed in 2016 in the European Union. €4 billion is fully paid. All these directions have been totally complied within Europe for the past five years. A standing committee is now looking into this; this will now be part of digital law. The European Union has already held them to be dominant. We are a third-world country. How can they discriminate Indian consumers from European consumers?” he said.
He also noted that the appeal against the CCI order was filed by Google before the NCLAT only in the month of December—a day before the limitation period was to expire. He also contended that Google is discriminating between consumers in India and the EU, as Google has already complied with similar directions issued by the EC in 2018.
Meanwhile, competition law experts said that Google has already complied with the European Commission’s 2018 directions including the payment of a hefty penalty in the Android case, and most of these directions were similar to those issued by the CCI.
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