Brussels, 10/11/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 10 November, the European Commission opened a formal procedure against the Canadian news and financial data company, Thomson Reuters. The latter is suspected of preventing its clients and competitors from translating Reuters Instrument Codes (RICs) to alternative identification codes, which could prove to be an illegal obstacle to free competition.
RICs are short, alphanumerical codes that identify securities (stock shares, etc.) and their trading locations. They are used to retrieve information from Thomson Reuters' real-time datafeeds. Limiting translation of these codes (known as “association” codes) would also limit the possibility for competitors to distribute data through their own information distribution systems.
Thomson Reuters is not under an obligation to make its competitors' life easier. On the other hand, its dominant position on this market does impose certain obligations upon it, mainly to slow up rivals' access to the market. If Thomson Reuters prevents its clients from mapping RICs to alternative identification codes of other datafeed suppliers, these customers may be forced to work with Thomson Reuters because replacing RICs by reconfiguring or by rewriting their software applications can be a long and costly procedure. The Commission will now be examining the real effect of this practice by Thomson Reuters on competition in this field. (C.D.)