This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission.
The European Commission invites comments on commitments offered by SAP to address possible anticompetitive practices in the provision of maintenance and support services for an on-premises type of software, licensed by SAP, used for the management of companies’ business operations and called Enterprise Resource Planning (‘ERP’).
The Commission’s investigation
SAP is a German-based multinational corporation which develops software applications for companies to manage their business operations. This includes ERP software, which supports business functions such as managing corporate finances, human resources and project management. SAP’s ERP software can be provided on-premises – when the software runs on the customer’s own servers – or via the cloud – when it is hosted on SAP’s servers and delivered over the internet. SAP also provides maintenance and support services for its ERP software, which include regular updates and technical assistance for its business customers to keep the software operational. Other companies also provide maintenance and support services for SAP’s on-premises ERP software, in competition with SAP, often against better commercial conditions, such as price.
On 25 September 2025, the Commission opened a formal investigation and preliminarily found that SAP is dominant in the market for maintenance and support services of SAP’s on-premises ERP software. The Commission has indications that SAP has engaged in the four following practices:
- SAP requires its maintenance and support customers to (i) seek maintenance and support services from SAP for all their SAP on-premises ERP software, and (ii) choose the same type of maintenance and support under the same pricing conditions for all their SAP on-premises ERP software. This may prevent customers from “mixing and matching” maintenance and support services from different suppliers at different price and support levels despite it being more convenient for them;
- SAP prevents customers from terminating maintenance and support services for unused software licences, which may result in SAP’s customers paying for unwanted services;
- SAP systematically extends the duration of the initial term of on-premises ERP licences, during which termination of maintenance and support services is not possible;
- SAP charges reinstatement and back-maintenance fees to customers who subscribe to SAP’s maintenance and support after a period of absence. In some cases, these fees correspond to the amount customers would have paid if they had stayed with SAP all along.
The Commission’s preliminarily view is that, by doing so, SAP may have restricted competition on the market for maintenance and support services of SAP’s on-premises ERP software, in breach of Article 102 TFEU and Article 54 of the European Economic Area (‘EEA’) Agreement, which prohibit the abuse of a dominant position that may affect trade and prevent or restrict competition within the Single Market.
The offered commitments
To address the Commission’s concerns, SAP has offered the following commitments:
- To clarify the conditions to SAP customers for splitting their SAP system (covering all on-premises ERP products and licences) into separate parts. For each part, SAP customers will be able to choose between different support services suppliers as well as opt for different levels of SAP support or for no SAP support at all;
- To give wider access to its single-metric contracts, which provide an alternative way for calculating the licence fees based on which maintenance and support fees are in turn calculated. Customers will also have the option to place their unused licences (“shelfware”) in a separate part of their SAP system and to end SAP’s maintenance and support services for that part;
- To clarify its contractual provisions regarding the initial term of licences, during which customers cannot terminate their support contracts, and refrain from restarting such term at every additional licence purchase; and
- To abolish reinstatement fees and reduce the back maintenance fees charged to customers once they resume the support services after a period during which they have gone off support, or when they contract such services at a later stage after the initial purchase of the primary licence(s) from SAP. Back maintenance fees will be reduced to 50% of the amount of maintenance and support fees a customer would have paid if it had not gone off support, capped at the amount a customer would have paid for a 6-month period. SAP also commits to fully waive back maintenance fees for a list of products which are no longer supported by SAP and are not covered by a cross-product licence.
If the commitments are made binding, they will apply to all current and future customers worldwide.
The commitments offered by SAP would remain in force for 10 years. Their implementation will be monitored by a monitoring trustee who will report regularly to the Commission.
The Commission invites all interested parties to submit their views on SAP’s proposed commitments within one month from the publication of a summary of the proposed commitments in the EU’s Official Journal. The full text of the commitments will be available on the Commission’s competition website
Background
On 25 September 2025, the Commission opened a formal antitrust investigation to assess whether SAP’s conduct violates EU competition rules in the EEA aftermarket for the maintenance and support services of SAP’s on-premises ERP software.
On the same day, in parallel to the opening of proceedings, the Commission adopted a Preliminary Assessment summarising the main facts of the case and identifying its preliminary competition concerns.
Article 102 TFEU and Article 54 of the EEA Agreement prohibit the abuse of a dominant position that may affect trade and prevent or restrict competition within the Single Market. The implementation of Article 102 TFEU is defined in Regulation 1/2003.
Article 9(1) of the Regulation 1/2003 enables companies investigated by the Commission to offer commitments in order to meet the Commission’s concerns and empowers the Commission to make such commitments binding on the companies. Article 27(4) of Regulation 1/2003 requires that before adopting such decision, the Commission shall provide interested third parties with an opportunity to comment on the offered commitments (“the market test”).
If the market test indicates that the commitments are a satisfactory way of addressing the Commission’s competition concerns, the Commission may adopt a decision making them legally binding on SAP. Such a decision would not conclude that there is an infringement of EU antitrust rules, but would legally bind SAP to respect the commitments it has offered.
If the company does not honour such commitments, the Commission may impose a fine of up to 10% of its worldwide annual turnoverwithout having to find an infringement of EU antitrust rules, or a periodic penalty payment of 5% per day of its daily turnover for every day of non-compliance.
More information, including the full text of the commitments, will be available on the Commission’s competition website, in the public case register under the case number AT.40823.
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