SAP drops reinstatement fees, ends EU antitrust probe

Key Takeaways

• SAP will abolish reinstatement fees and reduce back-maintenance charges globally for ten years
• The settlement removes barriers for customers considering third-party support ahead of ECC's December 2027 end-of-support deadline
• Only 39% of SAP ECC's 35,000 customers had started their S/4HANA transition as of Q4 2024

The European Commission closed its antitrust investigation into SAP after the German software giant agreed to abolish reinstatement fees and cap back-maintenance charges. The settlement, announced July 9, gives enterprises running SAP ERP Central Component (ECC) more flexibility to explore third-party support options before mainstream vendor support ends in December 2027.

For thousands of CIOs running mission-critical operations on ECC, the timing matters. Gartner's Q4 2024 data showed only 39 percent of the 35,000 worldwide ECC customers had bought or subscribed to S/4HANA licenses. That leaves roughly 21,000 organizations still deciding whether to migrate, extend, or look elsewhere for support.

What SAP agreed to change

The Commission's investigation, launched in September 2024, focused on whether SAP's fee structure discouraged customers from switching to third-party support providers. When a customer left SAP's maintenance program and later wanted to return, SAP charged reinstatement fees plus back-maintenance fees covering the gap period. These costs could run into millions of dollars for large deployments.

Under the new commitments, SAP will eliminate reinstatement fees entirely. Back-maintenance fees will be reduced, though the Commission did not specify the cap. SAP also agreed to clarify which conditions allow customers to mix support providers or choose different service levels.

The commitments are legally binding and apply globally for ten years, not just in Europe.

Why third-party support became a flashpoint

SAP's push toward S/4HANA has been relentless, but many enterprises resist for straightforward reasons: cost, complexity, and unclear ROI. A full migration can run tens of millions of dollars for large organizations, require years of implementation work, and introduce risk to systems that currently function.

Third-party support providers like Rimini Street and Spinnaker Support offer an alternative. They maintain legacy ECC installations at 50 to 90 percent lower annual costs than SAP's standard maintenance, according to industry analyst estimates. The trade-off: no access to new features or patches from SAP, only break-fix support and regulatory updates from the third party.

European retailer Kingfisher, which owns B&Q and Screwfix, publicly chose Rimini Street for ECC 6.0 support last year after concluding that S/4HANA migration offered insufficient value for their use case. They are not alone. The fee structure SAP just abandoned made it expensive to try third-party support and then return if it did not work out.

The Commission's warning to cloud vendors

Teresa Ribera, the EC's executive vice president, did not stop at on-premises software. Her statement explicitly flagged cloud markets: "The legally binding commitments secured by the Commission set a benchmark for the industry more broadly and should serve as a warning against practices with similar effects in the cloud markets, where customers are increasingly moving."

Translation: regulators are watching how SaaS vendors handle customer lock-in, egress fees, and support bundling. SAP's settlement may be on-premises focused, but the precedent extends further.

SAP's position

SAP maintained that its maintenance practices aligned with industry standards and that customers already had a broad range of deployment, licensing, and support options. In its statement, the company framed the settlement as a transparency improvement rather than a concession.

“The commitments strengthen customer choice and predictability by making policies more transparent, introducing targeted flexibility for exceptional shelfware situations and reinforcing consistent execution through improved guidance, training and independent oversight.”

— SAP

SAP emphasized that the decision relates solely to on-premises maintenance and does not affect its cloud offerings. The company also noted that clearer policies help customers modernize toward S/4HANA "at their own pace," a notable shift from the harder push of recent years.

What this means for ECC customers evaluating options

The practical impact depends on where you are in the decision cycle. If you have already migrated to S/4HANA, this settlement changes nothing for you. If you are committed to staying on ECC past December 2027, you now have more negotiating leverage and lower risk in exploring third-party support.

SAP's extended maintenance option runs until December 2030 at a two-percentage-point premium on standard maintenance fees. Third-party support can extend ECC indefinitely, but without vendor patches. The right choice depends on your organization's risk tolerance, regulatory environment, and long-term IT strategy.

The removal of reinstatement fees is the key change. Previously, leaving SAP support was a one-way door with a steep toll to re-enter. Now it is reversible at lower cost, which shifts bargaining power toward the customer.

Frequently Asked Questions

When does SAP ECC mainstream support end?

December 2027. Extended maintenance is available until December 2030 for an additional two percentage points on standard maintenance fees.

What are SAP reinstatement fees?

Fees SAP charged customers who left their support program and later wanted to return. These fees covered the gap period and could be substantial. SAP has now agreed to abolish them.

Can I use third-party support for SAP ECC indefinitely?

Yes. Providers like Rimini Street and Spinnaker Support offer ongoing maintenance for ECC without an end date. However, they cannot provide SAP patches or new features, only break-fix support and regulatory updates.

Does this settlement affect SAP cloud products?

No. SAP stated the commitments apply solely to on-premises maintenance policies. However, the European Commission warned that similar practices in cloud markets would face scrutiny.

How many SAP ECC customers have migrated to S/4HANA?

As of Q4 2024, only 39 percent of the 35,000 worldwide ECC customers had bought or subscribed to S/4HANA licenses, according to Gartner.

Source: www.theregister.com