The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is looking into Google’s acquisition of Israeli mapping app maker Waze, to determine whether it affects competition in UK.

The OFT is now checking whether the deal qualifies for a full investigation under the Enterprise Act.

In order to qualify, Waze’s UK turnover would either have to exceed £70 million a year, or the two companies would have to supply or acquire at least 25 per cent of the same goods or services supplied in the UK. Only then would the OFT investigate whether the acquisition affects competition in the UK.

If the deal does qualify for an investigation, and is found to result in a “substantial lessening of competition” in the UK, then the OFT could take one of three actions: it could refer the investigation to the Competition Commission, it could ask Google to make concessions to meet competition rules, or it could clear the deal entirely.

The OFT now has 40 working days to reach a decision on whether or not to investigate the acquisition.

This could be interesting if an investigation occurs.