COMPETITION : GOOGLE CALMS WATERS BY PUBLISHING AGREEMENT WITH COMMISSION.

Google wants to allay tensions arising from the deal it struck with the European Commission on 5 February. It published, on 14 February, the content of the commitments it submitted to put paid to an investigation into the online giant's alleged abuse of dominant market position by diverting traffic on the European online search market.

Since the agreement was announced, stakeholders have been calling for a third market test - which the Commission has rejected. Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia's services say that they are satisfied with the agreement, and have justified their position, much criticised by those calling for a third market test: "The Commission only publishes commitments when they are legally binding due to one of its decisions. At this stage, these are Google's proposals and we congratulate them for deciding to publish them".

UNUSUAL GESTURE

Google's Vice-President, Kent Walker, said on his blog that this was an "unusual" gesture on the company's part.

The 93-page document details the proposals by the online search giant, which aim to address the EU's three main criticisms: preferential treatment of specialised vertical search services in certain areas (travel and restaurants); copying of content from competing services without their consent; exclusivity agreements for advertisers and banning advertisers from launching ad campaigns on competing platforms.

Regarding content, Google has promised to refrain from using content from websites in its own search services. It will also drop exclusivity agreements for advertising, and restrictive clauses. On vertical searches, Google has agreed to display specialised search services from at least three competitors, chosen according to objective criteria concerning traffic, in the same space as its own search results but in a separate box (see illustration), using an identical visual format. This means that if Google's own links are accompanied by photos, those of rival sites must also be. In future, this comparability will be guaranteed. In other words, if Google links were matched with videos, this option would be offered to its competitors.

Looking more closely, though, the title of the box showing its own results has a very recognisable heading 'Google Shopping results', while competitors' services fall under an anonymous banner, 'Alternative results'. Added to this, the headings and background of the box are blue and white for Google's services - which is much more appealing...