Where a provider of an online search engine itself offers certain goods or services to consumers through its own online search engine, or does so through a corporate website user which it controls, that provider might compete directly with other corporate website users of its online search engine which are not controlled by the provider. In such situations, in particular, it is important that the provider of the online search engine acts in a transparent manner and provides a description of any differentiated treatment, whether through legal, commercial or technical means, that it might give in respect of goods or services it offers itself or through a corporate website user which it controls, compared to those offered by competing corporate website users. To ensure proportionality, this obligation should apply at the level of the overall online search engine, rather than at the level of individual goods or services offered through those services.
