SAP Avoids Penalty for Anticompetitive Practices
Brussels announced that it has made legally binding the commitments proposed by the German group to facilitate switching service providers or terminating contracts for its customers, bringing to a close an investigation opened in September 2025.
An investigation into the on-premise software maintenance market
The European Commission had opened a formal proceeding in September 2025, preliminarily deeming that SAP engaged in four practices likely to restrict competition in the European market for maintenance and support (M&S) of its on-premise ERP software.
The Commission suspected, in particular, that SAP prevented customers from canceling maintenance services tied to unused licenses, thus forcing them to pay for services they no longer used. It also cited retroactive maintenance and reintegration charges billed to customers who returned to SAP after a period away — amounts that could equal what they would have paid had they stayed a continuous customer.
A second set of concerns involved the systematic extension of the initial duration of on-premise ERP licenses, a period during which contract termination for maintenance was not possible, and the requirement that customers rely on SAP for all their on-premise software maintenance, with the same service level and pricing terms across the board, preventing them from mixing providers according to their needs.
These practices were considered potentially abusive of a dominant position under Article 102 TFEU and Article 54 EEA Agreement.
The commitments SAP has offered
Rather than face a fine, SAP opted for a commitments route.
Provided for by Article 9 of Regulation 1/2003, this procedure allows a company under investigation to propose corrective measures without the Commission having to establish an infringement formally.
Between November and December 2025, Brussels tested this offer on the market with interested third parties, prompting SAP to refine its initial proposal.
Concretely, SAP commits to:
- clarify the conditions under which a customer can split their SAP estate into multiple blocks, each to be serviced by a different maintenance provider, at a lower SAP support level, or with the option to forgo support for certain components;
- permit the termination of licenses and associated maintenance fees in several clearly defined circumstances: end-of-support for products, a project implementation failure attributable to SAP, customer insolvency or bankruptcy, a workforce reduction of at least 10% over two years (with a proportional reduction in licenses), or a business transfer (with full transfer, partial transfer, or termination of licenses as needed by the acquirer);
- expand access to single-metric contracts, an alternative method for calculating license royalties that subsequently informs maintenance charges;
- clarify the clauses governing the initial license term during which maintenance contract termination is not possible, and no longer reset this term with each new license purchase;
- eliminate reintegration fees and reduce retroactive maintenance charges billed to customers rejoining SAP’s services after a hiatus;
- establish an internal mediation framework that customers can use if they believe SAP is not properly applying these commitments.
These commitments apply worldwide for a period of ten years. Their implementation will be overseen by an independent monitor tasked with reporting regularly to the Commission.
Brussels and SAP hail a balanced agreement
For European competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager (note: in the actual text, the commissioner named is Teresa Ribera), the decision should give customers using on-site enterprise software more freedom to choose their maintenance and support services, without the unjustified restrictions that pushed up costs and dampened competition.
On SAP’s side, the tone is equally positive. The publisher notes that it welcomes the Commission’s decision to close the investigation, following a constructive and cooperative dialogue, and reiterates its commitment to open competition, customers’ freedom of choice, and innovation. It presents the commitments as bringing greater clarity, options, and assurances to customers managing complex on-site environments.
SAP specifies that its maintenance practices remain aligned with industry standards and that the decision concerns only the maintenance policies for on-site software, not its cloud offerings. The company emphasizes this point as it actively shifts its installed base to the cloud and to its AI-powered “autonomous enterprise” solutions.
A Ten-Year Sword of Damocles
While the Brussels mechanism allows SAP to avoid immediate fines and a formal finding of infringement, the vendor remains under close watch.
Should SAP fail to honor its commitments, the Commission could impose a fine of up to 10% of its global annual turnover, without the need to prove a new infringement or to impose a daily fine of 5% of its daily turnover for each day of non-compliance.
