(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

The European Commission (EC) announced on 13 November 2007 that its initial investigation in the deal Google-DoubleClick "indicated that the proposed merger would raise competition concerns in the markets for intermediation and ad serving in online advertising."

Therefore the Commission decided to open an in-depth investigation in this case in order to take a final decision on whether the proposed transaction would significantly impede effective competition within the European market or any substantial part of it.

The Commission also announced that it would investigate "whether without this transaction, DoubleClick would have grown into an effective competitor of Google in the market for online ad intermediation. It will also investigate whether the merger, which combines the leading providers of respectively, on the one hand, online advertising space and intermediation services, and, on the other hand, ad serving technology, could lead to anti-competitive restrictions for competitors operating in these markets and thus harm consumers."

The announcement of the Commission comes after several consumer and data protection groups asked for an detailed investigation on the matter. Privacy International sent on 5 November 2007 a letter, supported by EDRI, to the European Commission DG Competition, Commissioner Kroes, arguing that the merger could have serious implications for privacy innovation in advertising.

EC will deliver its opinion by 3 April 2008 and the decision to open this in-depth enquiry does not prejudge the final result of the investigation.

Mergers: Commission opens in-depth investigation into Google's proposed take over of DoubleClick (13.11.2007)
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/07/1688&...

European Union Investigates Google-DoubleClick Deal (14.11.2007)
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,139595-c,google/article.html

EDRI-gram: EDRI supports PI's comments on Google-Doubleclick merger (7.11.2007)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number5.21/google-doubleclick-pi-edri