EU regulators set to charge Microsoft over breached deal
(Reuters) - EU regulators are preparing to charge Microsoft Corp for failing to comply with a 2009 ruling ordering it to offer users a choice of web browsers, the EU's antitrust chief said on Thursday.
Context & Ripple Effects
The browser-choice dispute had already moved from a July EU probe into Microsoft’s browser-choice compliance to reports that the Commission was weighing a complaint. Microsoft then said it would meet the EU’s browser-related antitrust requests, making the alleged breach a test of that undertaking rather than a new theory of harm.
The case also extends a long-running EU competition conflict with Microsoft, following the earlier EU case against the company. Its significance lies in whether negotiated remedies are enforced as rigorously as initial antitrust findings.
First-order effects
- Microsoft must prepare to answer prospective EU antitrust charges over its failure to deliver the required browser-choice option to users.
- EU regulators put Microsoft’s 2009 commitments under formal enforcement scrutiny, rather than treating the company’s pledge to address browser requests as sufficient.
Second-order effects
- Companies negotiating commitments with EU competition authorities face a clearer incentive to treat implementation and user-facing delivery as compliance obligations, not merely settlement terms.
- Browser makers seeking access to Windows users have a stronger basis to press for remedies that are monitored at the point where users make their browser selection.
Third-order effects
- If the Commission pursues non-compliance cases consistently, EU antitrust remedies will be defined increasingly by whether users can exercise a choice in practice, not simply by whether a company accepts an obligation on paper.
The trend: EU competition enforcement is placing greater weight on the practical implementation of behavioral remedies, especially where platform design shapes user choice.