File Photo shows Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California, the United States. (Xinhua/Chen Gang)

"Through the Android operating system and the Google Play app store, Google holds a dominant position allowing it to control the access of app developers to end users," Italy's Competition Authority (AGCM) explained.

ROME, May 13  -- Italy's Competition Authority (AGCM) has fined Google about 102 million euros (123 million U.S. dollars) for abusing its dominant position in the Italian market, the authority said in a statement on Thursday.

The watchdog said Google violated the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, since the U.S. tech giant refused to allow an Italian company's app to interoperate with Google's Android Auto app which mirrors features of an Android device on a car's dashboard information and entertainment head unit.

The JuicePass App, developed by Enel X's Italian branch -- the Enel X Italia, allows several services for recharging electric vehicles, including finding and booking a place at recharging stations.

"Through the Android operating system and the Google Play app store, Google holds a dominant position allowing it to control the access of app developers to end users," AGCM explained.

Noting that about three-quarters of smartphones in Italy currently use the Android system, the authority said that Google "has unfairly limited the possibilities for end users to avail themselves of the Enel X Italia app when driving and recharging an electric vehicle."

"Google has consequently favored its own Google Maps app," it said.