On Friday, 12 September, the European Commission announced that it had accepted Microsoft’s commitments that aim to address an abuse of a dominant position concerning the distribution of Teams, its cloud-based communication and collaboration tool (see EUROPE 13439/13).
In the spring, the EU institution had consulted with concerned parties about the initial commitments that Microsoft made in order to respond to competition concerns about tying the sale of Teams to the productivity applications Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, which are included in the Office 365 and Microsoft 365 suites for business customers (see EUROPE 13642/2).
Among these commitments, the American digital giant Microsoft will make versions of these suites available without Teams and at a reduced price; will allow customers with long-term licences to switch to suites without Teams; will ensure the interoperability of essential functionalities between tools that compete with Teams and certain Microsoft products, such as Outlook and Word; and will enable customers to extract their data from Teams in order to facilitate the use of competing solutions.
In light of the consultation’s results, Microsoft has also promised to clarify that its websites – which advertise any software offer that includes a suite with Teams – should also display the corresponding offer without Teams. In addition, the company will publish information on interoperability and data portability on all its relevant websites intended for developers.
The European Commission has also taken note of the fact that Microsoft unilaterally decided to align its offers and prices for its suites worldwide with these commitments.
All of these commitments—which will now be legally binding under the rules that govern competition in the EU—will remain in force for 7 years, whereas the commitments relating to interoperability and data portability will remain in force for 10 years. Their implementation will be monitored by a monitoring trustee, who will also mediate in the event there are any disputes between third parties and Microsoft. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)