The EU General Court hears an appeal following an abuse of dominance decision involving online comparison shopping services (Google Shopping)

Introduction From 12-14 February 2020, the European Union’s General Court (the “General Court”) heard Google’s appeal of the European Commission’s 27 June 2017 abuse of dominance decision pursuant to Article 102 TFEU (the “Decision”) involving on-line comparison shopping services (“CSSs”). A central pillar of Google’s appeal submissions was that the legal case advanced by the Commission was a refusal to supply, but that the Commission had failed to satisfy the applicable legal tests for such a determination. Specifically, Google asserted that the Commission had failed to establish that ‘access’ to Google’s shopping box [1] was indispensable for a comparison shopping service. The eventual ruling from the General Court on this appeal will be important, not least because it is expected to