【英语科技】谷歌在华运营许可证续期审查尚待时日

A Chinese regulator said it needs more time to examine Google Inc.'s application to renew a license that allows the Internet company to operate key services in the country.

Separately, Europe's top antitrust chief said Wednesday he is looking closely at anticompetitive allegations against Google.

Wang Lijian, spokesman for China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said Google's application for annual renewal of its Internet content provider license came close to the end-of-June deadline, pushing back the approval process.

'As Google submitted the application in late June, it is impossible to finish the examination in such a short time,' Mr. Wang said. Without a license, Google likely wouldn't be able to use its mainland Chinese search address. Mr. Wang declined to say whether approval was likely for Google.

On June 28 Google said it had resubmitted its application after altering its Chinese search home page in response to government criticism. The regulator had objected to Google's strategy of redirecting Chinese users to a site in Hong Kong that Google doesn't censor.

Google had adopted that strategy in March, saying it was no longer willing to comply with China's self-censorship rules because of the government's tightening limits on free speech and because of cyberattacks that Google said originated in China.

Over in Europe, Joaquin Almunia, the EU competition commissioner, said in a London speech that he is looking 'very carefully' into 'some allegations of anticompetitive conduct in relation to search.'

The EU began investigating Google in February, spurred on by complaints from three competitors. Google said it was working with the commissioner, and remains confident it operates within EU competition law.

中国一个监管部门说，对于谷歌(Google Inc.)在中国运营主要服务许可证的续期申请审查，还需要更多时间。

而周三欧洲反垄断组织一位高官说，他正在密切关注针对谷歌的反竞争指控。

AFP/Getty Images一位路人骑着电瓶车经过谷歌在北京的总部大楼中国工信部发言人王立健说，谷歌递交互联网内容提供商许可证的年审申请时已接近6月末的截止日期，因而将批准程序推后。

王立健说，因谷歌是在6月底递交的申请，这么短的时间不可完成审核程序。没有许可证，谷歌可能无法使用在中国大陆的搜索地址。王立健拒绝透露是否会批准谷歌的申请。

6月28日，谷歌称已递交许可证续期申请，之前谷歌已变更了其中国搜索主页以回应中国政府的指责。中国监管部门此前对谷歌将中国用户导向不经审查的香港网址的策略表示反对。

谷歌是在3月份采取的这一策略，并说因中国政府对自由言论的限制收紧，加之受到来自中国的网络攻击，谷歌不愿意再遵守中国要求进行自我审查的规定。

在欧洲，欧盟竞争总署委员(EU competition commissioner) 阿尔穆尼亚(Joaquin Almunia)在伦敦一次发言中说，他正在非常仔细地调查关于搜索事宜的反竞争行为的某些指控。

三家竞争者的投诉促使欧盟于今年2月份开始对谷歌发起调查。谷歌说正在与欧盟竞争总署进行合作，并有信心其运作符合欧盟竞争法的规定。