Microsoft fined 731 mn by EU for breaking browser promise

An EU investigation found that Microsoft had failed to honour that obligation in software issued between May 2011 and July 2012,meaning that 15 million users were never made aware that they could choose.

Legally binding commitments reached in antitrust decisions play a very important role in our enforcement policy, said Joaquin Almunia,the EUs competition commissioner. A failure to comply is a very serious infringement that must be sanctioned accordingly.

Wednesdays fine is the first time the European Commission,the EUs antitrust authority,has fined a company for non-compliance with agreed commitments. It could have charged Microsoft up to 10 per cent of its global turnover,or as much as 7.9 billion.

In that respect,the fine is relatively light,but still marks a firm sanction by the EU and will not go unnoticed by the likes of Google,which is involved in a dispute with the Commission over how it ranks search engine results.