ABUSE OF DOMINANT POSITION : COMMISSION RE-EXAMINES COMPLAINTS AGAINST GOOGLE.

The European Commission is set to examine in greater depth a range of complaints against Google in order to decide if it should communicate these grievances to the internet search giant - a first step in the formal procedure of dealing with infractions of Community competition rules. That was the message from Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia, responding to a question from German Christian Democrat MEP Sabine Verhayen on the status of a dossier that has been hanging in the balance for nearly two years now.

The EU executive has received several complaints against the leading American internet company for penalising its rivals in the way it references other sites under its news column in the Google Chrome search engine. A complaint from Microsoft, at the end of 2011, originated from the Spanish association of newspaper editors, which contests Google's using and disseminating news content without respecting...