The European Commission announced on Thursday that it had accepted a package of commitments from SAP following an investigation into whether the software giant was restricting competition in the market for maintenance and support services for its on-premise software products.
The probe, which began in September 2025, focused on concerns that SAP's business practices made it unnecessarily difficult and costly for customers to move their maintenance and support contracts to competing providers.
Following the launch of the investigation, SAP revised its initial proposal after the European Commission sought feedback from third parties, including industry stakeholders and competitors. The revised commitments ultimately satisfied the EU's competition watchdog, paving the way for the case to be resolved without financial penalties. Reuters had exclusively reported on the expected approval in November last year.
Explaining the decision, EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said the measures would strengthen customer choice and improve competition in the software support market.
"Today's decision gives customers using SAP's popular on-premises business management software more freedom to choose maintenance and support services without unfair restrictions that raised their costs and stifled competition," Ribera said in a statement.
SAP welcomed the Commission's decision, saying the commitments would provide greater flexibility for customers operating complex business software systems.
"The commitments provide greater clarity, choice and safeguards for customers managing complex on-premise environments," the company said.
As part of the agreement, SAP will introduce a new method for calculating licence fees, which serve as the basis for determining maintenance and service charges. The company will also eliminate reinstatement fees previously charged to customers returning to SAP's maintenance services and reduce back-maintenance fees for those customers.
The concessions will apply globally and remain in effect for the next 10 years, giving businesses worldwide greater freedom to choose how they maintain and support their SAP software systems while encouraging stronger competition among service providers.