The European Commission has opened this Thursday An investigation against SAP For an assumption Dominant position abusethrough which the competition would be restricting, violating community normsand that would affect its popular program of Commercial management for companies.
“Thousands of companies from all over Europe They use the software of SAP to manage your businesses, as well as its related maintenance and assistance services, ”said the executive vice president of the Commission, and Competition Commissioner, and Competition Commissioner, competence, Teresa Ribera. Ribera is worried that the multinational may have “hindered the competition of their rivalsleaving European customers with fewer options and higher costs. ”
In particular, the community executive refers to software Business resources planning (ERP). A program that Thousands of companies use to manage projectstheir finances or issues related to human resources. This computer program can be used, well locally in their own customer servers to which SAP gives the service, or through the cloud on the servers of the German company.
Abusive practices
Although SAP itself offers MAINTENANCE AND ASSISTANCE SERVICES For the program, in addition to periodic updates, so do other competition companies, often, in more advantageous conditions. This option is possible for companies that have the program housed on their own servers. The community executive studies if Some of the multinational practices They aim to maintain a dominant position. It also refers to SAP demands from customers Request maintenance and assistance servicespreventing them from opting for options with the best price of alternative suppliers.
Brussels also consider potentially abusive the strict conditions when rescuing maintenance and technical assistance services, “which can lead to that SAP customers pay for services that do not want”The investigation also points to the systematic extension of the duration of the license to use the software or the retroactive rates of restoration and maintenancewhen a customer hires the service after a while without using it.
“In some cases, these rates correspond to the amount that customers would have paid if they had remained with SAP during all that time,” the commission said in a statement. Therefore, Brussels has determined that the multinational could have restricted competition Regarding other companies, and having carried out abusive practices with its customers to the point of being able to be considered “unfair commercial conditions.”
Now the Community Executive will continue with the investigation, Analyzing these practices in depth. While the process continues, SAP can respond committing to make changes in your model to correct the problems identified by the Commission.
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