The European Commission has informed Microsoft of EU antitrust violations in Office 365 and Windows 365 products, with a statement to the Financial Times

“The European Commission has informed Microsoft of its preliminary view that Microsoft has breached EU antitrust rules by tying its communication and collaboration product Teams to its popular productivity applications included in its suites for businesses Office 365 and Microsoft 365,” says the European Commission in a statement today.

Microsoft says it is working with the EU. “We appreciate the additional clarity provided, and will work to find solutions to address the Commission’s remaining concerns,” says Brad Smith in a statement to the Financial Times.

If Microsoft is found guilty of antitrust violations, the firm could face a fine of up to 10 percent of the company’s annual worldwide turnover. In the past, the European Commission has tried to force Microsoft to change its products.

In 2004 the European Commission ordered Microsoft to offer a version of Windows without Media Player bundled, which resulted in a Windows XP N version available only in EU markets. In 2009 Microsoft was also forced to implement a browser ballot box in its Windows operating system to ensure users were presented with a choice of web browsers, after years of Microsoft bunding Internet Explorer with Windows. Microsoft was then fined $730 million in 2013 for failing to include the browser ballot in Windows 7 SP1.

Brussels has accused Microsoft of illegally abusing its dominance in the business-software market at the expense of smaller rivals, following a complaint at the height of the pandemic by US competitor Slack.

On Tuesday, Sabastian Niles, president and chief legal officer of Slack’s parent company Salesforce, described the European Commission’s position as “a win for customer choice and an affirmation that Microsoft’s practices with Teams have harmed competition.”