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Google Warns Staff On EU Competition Charges

(c) Sky News 2015

Google (Xetra: A0B7FY - news) has told its staff that EU competition regulators are set to step up their investigation into the company following a five-year inquiry, with charges reportedly imminent.

Kent Walker, Google's general counsel, wrote in the memo that a "statement of objections" to Google's business practices in Europe would be released on Wednesday by the EU's competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager.

The European Commission has been examining whether Google, which holds about 90% of the search market in Europe, has been illegally rigging its search results to favour its own services.

Tech rivals such as Microsoft (NasdaqGS: MSFT - news) , who urged the EU to bring the case, want more competition in areas like online maps, search and shopping.

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In his memo, Mr Walker suggested that the inquiry may be expanded to include whether Google was using its Android software for mobile devices to gain an unfair advantage over other digital services.

"Expect some of the criticism to be tough." he warned.

If the EU issues a "statement of objections" against Google, it could lead to formal charges and an eventual fine of up to 10% of its worldwide turnover, which reached $66bn (£44.7bn) in 2014.

The Financial Times reported that Google would be told on Wednesday it was to be formally accused of abusing its market dominance.

The company has repeatedly denied any wrong-doing.

However, the filing of charges could increase pressure on Google to settle, to avoid a potentially damaging case and massive fine resulting from the allegations.

The record penalty imposed on a company for competition offences is £800m - levied on Intel (Swiss: INTC.SW - news) in 2009 for abusing its dominance of the computer chip market.

Digital Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said last weekend that the EU was expected to publish in "the coming days" the findings of its investigation.

He told a meeting in Hanover: "We need to bring or force Internet platforms, search engines, to follow our rules in Europe,"