SAP ends EU antitrust probe by dropping legacy support fees

SAP has reached an agreement with the European Commission that ends a formal investigation into its after-sales practices, by scrapping reinstatement charges and limiting charges for prior unpaid coverage.

The European Commission closes its antitrust investigation into SAP. The regulator launched the probe in September last year after receiving complaints that SAP restricted competition in the aftermarket for maintenance and support services. SAP's practices allegedly made it harder for third-party providers to compete, resulting in fewer choices and higher costs for European customers.

The Commission has now accepted legally binding commitments from SAP and terminated the investigation. EC executive VP Teresa Ribera stated that SAP’s software is critical to businesses across Europe and globally. The decision gives customers using SAP’s on-premises business management software more freedom to choose maintenance and support services without unfair restrictions.

SAP eliminates reinstatement fees and reduces back-maintenance charges. The vendor will abolish reinstatement fees entirely and cut the charges applied to customers who return to SAP coverage after a period of absence. SAP has also agreed to clarify the conditions that allow customers to select different maintenance and support service providers as well as varying levels of support directly from SAP.

In its October response to the Commission, SAP said its commitments aimed to improve the financial attractiveness for customers who wish to reinstate maintenance and support services. The company stated, “SAP’s commitments aim at improving the financial attractiveness for customers who wish to reinstate SAP maintenance and support services. Thus, future costs associated with reinstatement will not financially prevent customers from choosing to terminate SAP maintenance and support for a given period of time.”

Changes arrive ahead of the ECC support deadline. SAP’s mainstream support for ERP Central Component (ECC) ends in December 2027. Customers can extend that with paid extended maintenance until December 2030, which adds two percentage points to their maintenance fees.

Gartner figures from Q4 2024 showed that only 39 percent of the 35,000 worldwide ECC customers had bought or subscribed to licenses to begin transitioning to SAP S/4HANA. The policy adjustments could lower barriers for the remaining customers considering third-party support options to run ECC beyond vendor maintenance terms. One example cited by the source is European retailer Kingfisher, which chose Rimini Street to support ECC 6.0 after determining insufficient value in migrating to S/4HANA.

Both sides issue statements on the outcome. SAP said its maintenance practices were aligned with industry standards and that customers already had a broad range of deployment, licensing, and support options across its on-premise and cloud products. The commitments also introduce targeted flexibility for exceptional shelfware situations and reinforce consistent execution through improved guidance and training.

Ribera added that the legally binding commitments set a benchmark for the industry more broadly. She said they should serve as a warning against similar practices in the cloud markets where customers are increasingly moving.