Final Report of the Hearing Officer – Cases AT.40721 – Microsoft Teams and AT.40873 – Microsoft Teams II
Date: 2025-09-08
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: EU competition policy, European Economic Area, cloud computing, control of restrictive practices, dominant position, information technology, social media, software








C_202506578EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/6578


18.12.2025






Final Report of the Hearing Officer (1)

Cases AT.40721 – Microsoft Teams and AT.40873 – Microsoft Teams II
(C/2025/6578)


1.   

The present report concerns a draft commitment decision pursuant to Article 9(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 (2) addressed to Microsoft Corporation and Microsoft Ireland Operations Ltd. (collectively ‘Microsoft’), which makes binding commitments regarding the distribution of Microsoft Teams, as well as the interoperability of Teams’ rivals’ products with other Microsoft products in the European Economic Area.



2.   

On 27 July 2023, following a complaint by Slack Technologies, Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Slack Technologies, Inc (3). the Commission initiated proceedings in case AT.40721 – Microsoft Teams within the meaning of Article 11(6) of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 and Article 2(1) of Regulation (EC) No 773/2004 (4).



3.   

On 25 June 2024, following a complaint by alfaview GmbH, the Commission initiated proceedings in case AT.40873 – Microsoft Teams II within the meaning of Article 11(6) of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 and Article 2(1) of Regulation (EC) No 773/2004. On the same day, the Commission adopted a statement of objections (‘SO’) in cases AT.40721 and AT.40873 jointly. The SO preliminarily considered that Microsoft had breached Article 102 TFEU and Article 54 of the EEA Agreement by tying Microsoft Teams to its Software-as-a-Service productivity applications for professional use.



4.   

Microsoft received access to the file on 1 July 2024. In the following months, further to its requests, Microsoft received access to additional documents and less redacted versions of documents. Microsoft also requested further access to the Commission’s file pursuant to Article 7 of Decision 2011/695/EU.



5.   

Microsoft submitted its written reply to the SO on 9 October 2024, within the deadline set. In its reply, Microsoft requested an oral hearing pursuant to Article 12(1) of Regulation (EC) No 773/2004.



6.   

Microsoft’s requests mentioned in paragraphs 4 and 5 were later withdrawn.



7.   

In accordance with Article 5 of Decision 2011/695/EU, the Hearing Officer admitted four undertakings to be heard as interested third persons in these cases.



8.   

Further to its reply to the SO, Microsoft entered into discussions with the Commission on possible commitments pursuant to Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003. On 28 April 2025, Microsoft formally offered commitments (the ‘Initial Commitments’) to meet the Commission’s competition concerns as set out in the SO, which constitutes the preliminary assessment within the meaning of Article 9(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 in the context of the present procedure.



9.   

On 16 May 2025, the Commission published a notice in accordance with Article 27(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003, summarising the cases and inviting comments from third parties on the Initial Commitments offered by Microsoft. On 30 June 2025, the Commission informed Microsoft of the comments received following this publication.



10.   

On 21 July 2025, Microsoft submitted its final commitments (the ‘Final Commitments’).



11.   

The Final Commitments include provisions that relate to offering certain Microsoft suites without Microsoft Teams, the pricing of these offers, and to providing recurrent switching opportunities for long-term customers. The draft decision makes these provisions binding upon Microsoft for seven years. In addition, the Final Commitments include provisions related to interoperability and data portability, which will bind Microsoft for ten years. The draft decision concludes that there are no longer grounds for action by the Commission in these cases as regards the concerns set out in the preliminary assessment.



12.   

No queries or submissions have been made to the Hearing Officer in connection with the proposed commitments by Microsoft or any third parties.



13.   

In view of the above, I consider that the effective exercise of procedural rights has been respected in these cases.




Brussels, 8 September 2025.

Wouter WILS
               





(1)  Pursuant to Articles 16 and 17 of Decision 2011/695/EU of the President of the European Commission of 13 October 2011 on the function and terms of reference of the hearing officer in certain competition proceedings (OJ L 275, 20.10.2011, p. 29) (‘Decision 2011/695/EU’).

(2)  Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 of 16 December 2002 on the implementation of the rules on competition laid down in Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty (OJ L 1, 4.1.2003, p. 1) (‘Regulation (EC) No 1/2003’).

(3)  At the time of reporting, renamed Slack Technologies, LLC.

(4)  Commission Regulation (EC) No 773/2004 of 7 April 2004 relating to the conduct of proceedings by the Commission pursuant to Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty (OJ L 123, 27.4.2004, p. 18) (‘Regulation (EC) No 773/2004’).


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/6578/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)