The European Union warned Google that it would have to deal with formal charges if the company does not present a plan giving fair prominence to other search engines.
According to competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia, the EU can file formal charges against the search engine giant as its next step in handling the dispute. Google is facing issues of abusing its huge influence in European countries; 90 percent of search traffic in the region was generated through Google.
The issue began in 2010 when rival search engine and price comparison site Foundem protested the way Google displays search engine results. In February, Google offered a deal, but the EU rejected it after receiving an additional 20 formal complaints. The proposed terms stated that Google will reserve a space in their search engine page for other European search engines. But this space will be auctioned to the other search engines.
The rivals questioned the proposal, claiming that Google designed a solution where it could also make money.
"At the beginning of the month, I have communicated this to the company asking them to improve these proposals," Almunia told BBC News.
The union did not specify a deadline for Google's new proposal. A Google spokesman told the Wall Street Journal that the company continues "to work with the European Commission to resolve their concerns."
If a company is found guilty of anti-trust laws violations, EU officials can command the perpetrator to pay a penalty amounting to 10 percent of yearly sales. Google is not the first tech company that had to pay the price of the union's probe. Microsoft paid a huge penalty for illegally bundling Windows Media Player inside its Windows OS.
"Microsoft was investigated [for] 16 years, which is four times as much as the Google investigation has taken, and there are more problems with Google than there were with Microsoft," Almunia said.
