The European Commission accepted commitments from SAP, it said on Thursday, putting an end to an EU competition investigation into the German business software giant.

In September, the EU’s competition watchdog opened an investigation into how SAP provides support services for its on-premise “Enterprise Resource Planning” software.

The company has committed to clarify conditions for how customers are allowed to use different providers for maintaining different pieces of its software, including not relying on SAP itself at all for this task.

In some new cases, customers will now also be allowed to end their contracts with SAP – terminating any ongoing payments – such as, for example, when it’s already in the final stages of a maintenance plan and provides reduced services, or if it botched implementing a project.

“SAP remains committed to open competition, customer choice and innovation,” SAP said in a statement. “The commitments provide greater clarity, choice and safeguards for customers managing complex on-premise environments, while supporting flexible IT strategies aligned with business priorities.”

(nl)