The European Commission (“Commission”) has made SAP's commitments legally binding through a commitment decision aimed at addressing competition concerns in the aftermarket for maintenance and support services for the company's on-premises Enterprise Resource Planning (“ERP”) software. The decision follows the Commission's preliminary assessment that certain SAP practices may have restricted competition in this market.
The Commission had preliminarily found that SAP may have abused its dominant position by making it difficult for customers to terminate maintenance and support services, charging reinstatement and back-maintenance fees, systematically extending contract terms, and requiring customers to obtain the same type of maintenance and support from SAP for all of their ERP software. According to the Commission, these practices may have restricted competition from independent maintenance and support providers.
Under the commitments, SAP will allow customers greater flexibility to use different maintenance and support providers for different parts of their ERP landscape, enable customers to terminate licenses and maintenance agreements in specific circumstances, abolish or reduce reinstatement and back-maintenance fees, clarify its contractual terms, and establish an internal mechanism to address customers' concerns regarding the implementation of the commitments.
The commitments will apply globally for 10 years and will be monitored by an independent monitoring trustee. Through these measures, the Commission aims to ensure that SAP's practices no longer restrict competition in the market for maintenance and support services.
(European Commission – 09.07.2026)
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
