BRUSSELS — European Union regulators will probably demand more concessions from Google to end a three-year investigation into complaints that it squeezed out rivals in Internet search, the union’s antitrust chief said on Tuesday.
Google, the world’s most popular search engine, submitted proposals to the European Commission early this year, offering to label its own products in Internet search results and make it easier for advertisers to move to rival platforms.
Complainants, including Foundem, a British price-comparison site, and Hot Maps, a German online mapping company, have criticized Google’s proposals. They say Google’s plan would force competitors to raise their costs and increase merchants’ dependency on the search engine.
The European Union’s competition authority had initially given complainants until last Sunday to provide feedback but later extended the deadline to June 27 following pressure from the companies.
“After, we will analyze the responses we have received. We will ask Google, probably — I cannot anticipate this formally, almost 100 percent — we will ask Google: you should improve your proposals,” Joaquín Almunia, the European Union competition commissioner, told lawmakers during a hearing at the European Parliament.
Mr. Almunia also said he had yet to decide whether to open a formal investigation into Google’s Android operating system, widely used in smartphones phones and tablets.
“We have received a formal complaint regarding some aspects of the Android ecosystem. We are working on it. We have not decided if we will open or not a formal investigation,” he said.
Last month, a group of companies including Microsoft and Nokia filed a complaint with the European Commission, accusing Google of blocking competition in mobile telephony.
Al Verney, Google spokesman, was not immediately available for comment.
Google, the world’s most popular search engine, submitted proposals to the European Commission early this year, offering to label its own products in Internet search results and make it easier for advertisers to move to rival platforms.
Complainants, including Foundem, a British price-comparison site, and Hot Maps, a German online mapping company, have criticized Google’s proposals. They say Google’s plan would force competitors to raise their costs and increase merchants’ dependency on the search engine.
The European Union’s competition authority had initially given complainants until last Sunday to provide feedback but later extended the deadline to June 27 following pressure from the companies.
“After, we will analyze the responses we have received. We will ask Google, probably — I cannot anticipate this formally, almost 100 percent — we will ask Google: you should improve your proposals,” Joaquín Almunia, the European Union competition commissioner, told lawmakers during a hearing at the European Parliament.
Mr. Almunia also said he had yet to decide whether to open a formal investigation into Google’s Android operating system, widely used in smartphones phones and tablets.
“We have received a formal complaint regarding some aspects of the Android ecosystem. We are working on it. We have not decided if we will open or not a formal investigation,” he said.
Last month, a group of companies including Microsoft and Nokia filed a complaint with the European Commission, accusing Google of blocking competition in mobile telephony.
Al Verney, Google spokesman, was not immediately available for comment.