EU Antitrust Regulators Quiz Microsoft’s Rivals on Request for Buyer Knowledge

EU antitrust regulators are asking Microsoft’s rivals what sort of buyer information they’re required to offer to the US tech large as a part of their Azure cloud contracts, six months after a commerce group complained about its cloud computing practices.

Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE), whose members embody Amazon, alleged final November that Microsoft’s new contractual phrases imposed on October 1 along with different practices had been harming the European cloud computing ecosystem.

In a questionnaire despatched to cloud suppliers seen by Reuters, the European Commission requested recipients for an inventory of contractual clauses requiring these corporations to report details about their European clients to Microsoft.

“The Commission has received several complaints regarding Microsoft, including in relation to its product Azure, which we are assessing based on our standard procedures,” a spokesperson for the EU government stated.

The EU competitors enforcer wished to know concerning the frequency of the reporting, the interval for which the info is requested, the format of the reporting, and whether or not the knowledge is distributed on to Microsoft or to an auditor.

Recipients, who got till this week to reply, had been requested whether or not there have been contractual, precise, or threatened penalties for not complying with these clauses.

The EU watchdog requested if Microsoft might have used the knowledge to go on to the recipients’ clients.

Microsoft, hit by greater than 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion or roughly Rs. 147.17 crore) in EU fines within the earlier decade for numerous antitrust violations, declined to remark.

It has made a proposal to CISPE in a bid to settle the problem and talks are ongoing, based on an individual acquainted with the matter. 

© Thomson Reuters 2023