The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) Commission, the Russian antitrust authority, has ruled that Google is violating the country's antimonopoly law by illegaly forcing smartphone vendors to install its apps, including the Google Play store, on Android phones.
On 20 February 2015, FAS opened a case against Google upon elements of violating the antimonopoly law due to a complaint from Russian search Yandex search engine on anticompetitive actions.
Investigating the case, the FAS Commission concluded that Google violated the law by requiring phone makers to install its own app store, applications and search system on Android phones intended for sale in the Russian Federation, and to place its apps on the devices' home screen.
That requirement had the effect of preventing developers of competing services from having their apps installed by the vendors, the authority said.
The authority will draft a full decision within two weeks, requiring Google to stop abusing its market dominance and imposing further remedies to support competition.
"In particular, FAS can request to adjust contracts with vendors of mobile devices, excluding such Clauses from the agreements that restrict installing applications and services of other developers of such devices", concluded Mr. Dotsenko.
The authority closed another investigation into whether Google had engaged in unfair competition, saying it had found no evidence of violations of that aspect of Russian law.