On 9 July 2026, the European Commission accepted a set of legally binding commitments from SAP, closing its investigation into how the company sells maintenance and support for its on-premise ERP software. The commitments change what is contractually possible for on-premise customers: how support can be purchased, divided, and ended. This arrives at a moment when many organizations are already facing major decisions about their SAP estates. 

What Happened

The EU Commission opened a formal investigation in September 2025 to assess whether SAP may have abused a dominant position in the market of maintenance and support (M&S) services supporting its on-premise ERP software.  

SAP responded to these claims by offering commitments to address the EU competition concerns. These commitments are now legally binding globally, to all current and future customers, enforced for ten years. As this package addressed the preliminary concerns, the investigation was closed, and SAP has not been fined or found in breach of competition law. 

The Main Concerns the Commission Raised 

The Commission’s preliminary assessment identified four practices that had the potential to restrict competition: 

• Preventing customers from ending support for unused licenses, meaning they could be paying for services they no longer needed. 
• Charging reinstatement and back-maintenance fees after a break in support. 
• Systematically extending the length for initial license terms which has the effect of blocking customers from terminating M&S – delayed customer ability to exit support arrangements. 
• Requiring customers to choose M&S under the same support type and pricing across their entire estate – ultimately limiting the ability to use alternative suppliers for different system installations. 

What SAP Has Committed To  

SAP’s commitments present an update to contract terms and a change in how customers can purchase, divide and end their support arrangements. In practical terms, on-premise customers will now be able to: 

• Split their SAP environments and choose different maintenance providers, or different support levels, for different parts of the estate  
• End support for licenses they no longer use  
• Terminate licenses in defined circumstances, including failed implementation projects attributable to SAP, insolvency, major workforce reductions, and business divestitures  
• Return to SAP support without the administrative fees previously charged to returning maintenance customers 

If SAP fails to honor the package, the Commission can impose financial penalties without first needing to establish an infringement. 

What This Means For Customers 

It would be an overstatement to suggest these commitments could fundamentally change the business case for migrating to SAP S/4HANA. What they do change, however, is the commercial environment in which the decisions for transformation can be made.  

Market data shows that there are thousands of organizations still weighing their path from ECC ahead of the 2027 end of mainstream maintenance. For some organizations, this change may strengthen the business case for remaining on ECC longer, while for others it may improve their negotiating position as they consider their future roadmap. The key takeaway is that customers now have a higher degree of commercial flexibility rather than a change in technology strategy. 

What Should Organizations Do Now?  

In our view, there are three clear actions that should follow given these changes if you are an on-premise customer: 

1. Review your license estate to identify unused licenses, shelfware, current support coverage and potential optimization opportunities  
2. Re-evaluate your maintenance strategy, including an assessment of your current estate and system landscape – third-party support should now form part of the commercial and technical assessment. 
3. Incorporate the commitments into future negotiations so your contract terms reflect the flexibility they guarantee   

How We Can Help at ITAA 

For on-premise customers, timing is now the critical factor. Mainstream maintenance for SAP ECC ends on 31 December 2027, with reports from 2026 estimating that most migration projects are delayed, over budget, or still in planning. With these new commitments, SAP customers have some more room to manoeuvre, but the value only materialises if you understand how they can apply to your own contracts. 

As independent licensing consultants, we at ITAA bring expert guidance to organizations to: 

• Review your current maintenance and support agreements against the new commitments via a full Bill of Materials review 
• Identify where flexibility now exists that didn’t before, such as splitting support across your estate or ending cover for unused licenses  
• Strengthen your position ahead of renewals, audits, or contract negotiations with SAP 

As well as full audit services, we offer a quick-check service for customers who want an initial view of their SAP license positions without committing to a full review.  

Whatever stage you’re at, understanding your license position is the first step, and we’re here to help you take it. Get in touch to start the conversation.