Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

[**Avis juridique important**](../../../editorial/legal_notice.htm)

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# 92002E0174

**WRITTEN QUESTION E-0174/02 by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. Abuse of dominant market position concerning school software licences.** 
  
*Official Journal 301 E , 05/12/2002 P. 0027 - 0028*

  

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0174/02

by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(5 February 2002)

Subject: Abuse of dominant market position concerning school software licences

The software company Microsoft has announced that it is to standardise its European licence fees for the basic software package Microsoft Office Professional. This move will result in considerable increases in the software licences schools have to pay in respect of each computer on which the software package is installed. The increase will be 30-40 % in Belgium's case and as high as about 250 % in the case of schools in the Netherlands.

Will the Commission state whether it regards this pricing policy to be an abuse of a dominant market position by the company concerned and whether it is taking steps to promote the use in education of cheaper alternative software which is of an equivalent quality and also compatible with international standards as regards the formats in which data is stored? Microsoft is apparently still using totally closed formats which are regularly changed, so that consumers are forced to buy new versions of their software.

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(25 March 2002)

The Commission has received information on this subject also from other sources. Microsoft's licensing policy towards schools of its Office suite referred to by the Honourable Member has already been brought to the attention of the Commission with regard to the German and Dutch markets.

On the basis of the 1993 Notice on cooperation between national courts and the Commission in applying Articles 85 and 86 of the EC Treaty [now Articles 81 and 82], both the German and Dutch competition authorities are now investigating this issue on the basis of their national competition rules.

The ongoing Commission investigation on Microsoft under Article 82 of the EC Treaty which led to the issue of Statements of objections against Microsoft Corporation on 3 August 2000 and 29 August 2001 respectively, focuses on the allegation that Microsoft has abused its dominant position in the market for personal computer operating system software by leveraging this power into the market for entry-level server software. Microsoft may have withheld from vendors of alternative server software key interoperability information that they need to enable their products to talk with Microsoft's dominant personal computer (PC) and entry-level server products.

In its second Statement of objections, the Commission also alleges that Microsoft is illegally tying its Media Player product with the dominant Windows operating system.

For the time being, and in the absence of any formal complaint, there is however no open case on Microsoft's Office (XP) products as referred to by the Honourable Member, although the Commission is carefully monitoring all developments with respect to these products.

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