The Autorité de la concurrence has decided to favor the investigation of the referral to Cigref relating to SAP. Members of this association believe that the German technology giant lacks transparency about its price list.
The pressure exerted by large French companies and public administrations, united within the Cigref association, will have paid off in the end. After having denounced for several years the commercial practices of the German technological giant SAP, they have just been heard. “At this stage, the Autorité de la concurrence has decided to favor the instruction of the referral relating to SAP, which it will launch with companies and public bodies, customers or not of SAP”indicates Cigref.
In this context, the Autorité de la concurrence will send a questionnaire to companies and public bodies that may be interested in the services offered by the German group. The USF, the association of French-speaking users of SAP solutions, has also invited all the organizations that will be sent this questionnaire to answer it. Depending on the feedback from the companies and public bodies contacted, the Autorité de la concurrence could decide to launch additional investigations. These could lead to actions, such as a fine.
An opaque fee schedule
The launch of this investigation follows the filing of several referrals in the summer of 2021 targeting global software heavyweights with the French Competition Authority. “The referrals filed by Cigref do not pursue the objective of sanctioning the suppliers concerned but of putting an end to the practices deemed to be unfair, even anti-competitive, of which their customers, in particular the members of Cigref, are victims. The purpose of these referrals is therefore to request arbitration from the Competition Authority on these practices that Cigref has publicly denounced, without any real effect, for many years”explains Cigref.
Members of the association believe that SAP, which achieved a turnover of 27.8 billion euros in 2021, lacks transparency about its price list. The German group specializing in software and services for companies is in fact accused of increasing the bill for its customers arbitrarily, in particular when the latter modify the data integrated into SAP software with software external to the solutions. of the Walldorf group.
However, beyond the Cigref offensive, the noose is tightening around SAP and other technological giants such as Google, Amazon and IBM. The European legislative arsenal was recently strengthened with the adoption of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a text aimed at putting an end to the unfair practices of digital giants, which lead to abuse of a dominant position that hinders competition. Abusive behavior may be sanctioned by fines ranging from 6 to 20% of the worldwide turnover of the companies in question. In the event of a repeat offense, Brussels reserves the right to go even further by adopting structural measures, such as disposals of activities and a ban on making new acquisitions.