SAP has long been under the European Commission’s scrutiny and is now the subject of a formal investigation.
The proceeding concerns a market where the German software maker is considered to hold a dominant position: on-site maintenance and support for its software.
Brussels has identified four practices that could have contributed to excluding competition.
- SAP requires customers to use its maintenance and support services for all of their on-site software, and to select for all of these products the same type of services with the same pricing terms.
- SAP prevents customers from terminating maintenance and support for licenses that are not used.
- SAP systematically extends the initial contract period for on-site licenses, a time during which the customer cannot terminate maintenance and support services.
- SAP retroactively bills customers who subscribe to its maintenance and support after a lapse, and in some cases these charges match what the customer would have paid if SAP had been kept throughout.
SAP may already have made concessions
Beyond potential anti-competitive effects, such practices could amount to abusive conduct and unfair trading terms.
SAP maintains that it is compliant. The practices in question are said to be grounded in long-established industry norms, the company contends. It adds that it is working with the European Commission to “resolve the issues raised.”
There have indeed been proposals put forward recently. Against this backdrop, a broader review of SAP’s practices is taking shape: the complexity of terms of use and licensing, the bundling of applications, the difficulty of moving to competing solutions, and so on. Oracle is being watched in parallel.
On the maintenance and support issue, Brussels had already sent a questionnaire to interested parties as early as 2022.
The maximum penalty SAP could face would be a fine equal to 10% of its global turnover (34 billion euros in 2024).
