Google faces new anti-trust complaint from French search firm

Google is facing another charge of anti-competitive practices in Europe following fresh allegations from French ISP 1plusV.

1plusV is the parent company of eJustice.fr, which was one of the original complainants to the EU regarding Google. This new accusation comes almost a year to the day after Google first announced it was being investigated.

EJustice.fr runs search engines designed around specific topics, and claims that Google blocked the company from getting revenue from Google's AdSense platform unless it used Google search technology.

"This is the only truly effective way of obtaining targeted advertising on a search engine," 1plusV said in a statement to the BBC.

"For eJustice.fr, Google's decision to remove it from its search results was catastrophic in terms of traffic."

The EU opened its official investigation into Google in November, and an early negotiating position has reportedly been reached. Google told V3.co.uk that the review is continuing.

"We have been working closely with the European Commission to explain many different parts of our business," said Google spokesman Adam Kovacevich.

"While we have always tried to do the right thing for our users and advertisers, we recognise that there's always room for improvement."

The initial EU investigation came after complaints of anti-competitive practices from Microsoft subsidiary Ciao, eJustice.fr and UK firm Foundem, which has also sued Google in the US.