The European Commission says that Microsoft failed to comply with its commitments to offer users a choice screen enabling them to easily choose their preferred web browser.

In 2009, the Commission made these commitments legally binding on Microsoft.

In a statement of objections, the Commission said that Microsoft failed to roll out the browser choice screen with its Windows 7 Service Pack 1, which was released in February 2011.

From February 2011 until July 2012, millions of Windows users in the EU may not have seen the choice screen.

Microsoft acknowledged that the choice screen was not displayed during that period.

In December 2009, the Commission made legally binding on Microsoft commitments offered by the US software company to address competition concerns related to the tying of Microsoft’s web browser, Internet Explorer, to its dominant client PC operating system Windows.

Microsoft committed to make available for five years – until 2014 – in the European Economic Area a “choice screen” enabling users of Windows to choose in an informed and unbiased manner which web browsers they wanted to install in addition to, or instead of, Microsoft’s web browser.

The choice screen was provided as of March 2010 to European Windows users who have Internet Explorer set as their default web browser.

The Commission opened proceedings to investigate the potential non-compliance with the browser choice commitments on July 16, 2012.

A statement of objections is a formal step in Commission investigations.

The Commission informs the parties concerned in writing of the objections raised against them and the parties can reply in writing and request an oral hearing to present comments.

The Commission takes a final decision only after the parties have presented their defenses.

If a company has breached commitments made legally binding by way of an Article 9 decision, it may be fined up to 10 percent of its total annual turnover.