EU rejects Microsoft plan to comply with antitrust sanctions News
EU rejects Microsoft plan to comply with antitrust sanctions

[JURIST] The European Commission [official website] said Wednesday that it has rejected part of Microsoft's [corporate website] plan to comply with sanctions that were imposed last year after the Commission found that Microsoft violated European antitrust laws [decision text, PDF; archived Commission press release]. In addition to imposing a record $654 million fine, the Commission also ordered Microsoft to choose a non-partisan individual to monitor the company's compliance with the EU sanctions. A Commission spokesman said Wednesday that "We have officially informed Microsoft that their proposal on the monitoring trustee is not acceptable. Essentially they wished to have a veto on what issues the monitoring trustee could examine." Microsoft now has 10 days to respond, and if the Commission finds Microsoft's response unsatisfactory, it can impose its own monitoring process. Microsoft says that it is "fully committed to complying with the Commission's decision," and that the Commission's interpretation of the company's actions was wrong. Microsoft provides detail on its implementation of the Commission decision [Microsoft backgrounder]. BBC News has more.