European Commission examines Oracle cloud licensing practices

The European Commission has begun gathering information regarding Oracle’s software licensing practices within cloud environments. This inquiry aims to determine if the American company’s terms prevent customers from utilizing services from competing providers.

While the Commission stated there is currently no formal antitrust investigation, officials are monitoring potential anticompetitive practices by soliciting information from market participants. This stage allows companies to address concerns before formal legal proceedings begin.

The move follows a similar situation involving the German company SAP, which reached a settlement in July. SAP agreed to simplify contract terminations and customer migrations to avoid potential fines of up to 10% of its global annual revenue. Regulators are specifically examining whether licensing terms artificially inflate the costs of running software on rival cloud platforms, particularly for Oracle’s databases, which are deeply integrated into financial, governmental, and industrial systems.