BEIJING - China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Thursday that its antitrust bureau is still examining Google's bid to purchase phonemaker Motorola Mobility.

"The investigations and reviews are still under way. Any news will be disclosed in a timely manner," MOC spokesman Shen Danyang said at a press conference.

The remarks came just days after the case won government approval from the United States and the European Union, bringing Google a step closer to completing the deal.

Search engine giant Google Inc. announced last year that it would buy Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. for approximately $12.5 billion.

Under China's anti-monopoly laws, multinational companies have to seek government approval before consolidating if their combined global revenues exceeded 10 billion yuan ($1.59 billion) and if two or more parties involved in the deal reported more than 400 million yuan in sales revenues respectively during the previous fiscal year.

An anti-monopoly review is also necessary if the firms' revenues in China exceeded 2 billion yuan during the previous fiscal year and if two or more parties involved in the deal reported more than 400 million yuan in sales revenues respectively.