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

Background On 27 June 2017, the European Commission imposed a record fine of 2.42 billion euros to Google for abuse of dominant position under Article 102 TFEU consisting in self-favouring its own Comparison Shopping Service (“CSS”) by displaying it more prominently and under enriched features compared to its competitors’ services. The Decision has been appealed by Google to the European Union’s General Court before where the hearings took place in Luxembourg the 12,13 and 14 th of February 2020. For three days, EU judges have heard both parts and interveners on Google’s main arguments - notably that the Commission wrongly (I) considered improvements as abusive and imposed a duty to share them without meeting the required conditions, (II) assessed the anticompetitive effects and (III)