On July 9, 2026, the EU Commission declared SAP’s commitment offers in the antitrust proceedings regarding maintenance and support services for on-premise ERP software legally binding. This concludes proceedings that the Commission initiated in September 2025, without a fine for SAP, but with commitments valid worldwide for ten years that significantly expand the scope of action for existing SAP customers. For companies operating SAP ERP systems in their own data centers, it is now worth taking a close look at their own maintenance and support strategy.

What were the proceedings about?

The Commission had provisionally found that SAP may have used its dominant market position in the maintenance and support business for on-premise ERP software in a manner that restricts competition. At its core, the case concerned four practices:

• Support for unused licenses: Customers were often unable to cancel maintenance contracts for licenses they were no longer using.
• Re-entry fees: Those who had interrupted SAP support sometimes had to pay fees upon return that corresponded to what would have been incurred with continuous use.
• Extension of the commitment period: Each additional license purchase could restart the original non-cancelable contract term.
• Bundling requirement: Customers had to obtain SAP support uniformly for all on-premise products under uniform conditions and could not combine offers with other providers.

The Commission saw this as a possible violation of Article 102 TFEU, the prohibition of abuse of a dominant market position. To end the proceedings, SAP submitted commitment offers to the Commission, which were adjusted following a market test in winter 2025/26 and have now become legally binding worldwide for ten years.

What SAP has specifically committed to

• Division into Commercial Installations: SAP must specify the conditions under which customers can divide their SAP landscape into separate parts (Commercial Installations). With different support providers, different SAP support scopes, or even without support for each landscape component.
• New termination rights in defined scenarios: Licenses can now be canceled in certain cases: for products in the final maintenance phase, for failed implementation projects under SAP’s responsibility, in case of insolvency, in case of workforce reduction of at least 10% within two years, and in case of divestiture of a business unit (carve-out).
• License reduction in case of workforce reduction: In case of workforce reduction of at least 10% over two years, customers can reduce their licenses and associated maintenance costs proportionally.
• Extended access to Single Metric Contracts: SAP must grant customers broader access to single-metric contracts, an alternative, often simpler method for calculating license and maintenance fees.
• Clarification of contract terms: SAP must clarify the rules regarding the original non-cancelable license term and may no longer automatically restart this term with each additional license purchase.
• Lower costs for re-entry: Those who re-enter SAP support after an interruption will no longer pay a reinstatement fee, and any back payments will also be lower.
• Clearing office and monitoring: SAP will establish an internal office that customers can contact if they consider SAP’s implementation of the commitments insufficient. An independent monitoring trustee will report regularly to the Commission on implementation during the ten-year term.

What this means in practice and what it does not mean

This results in significantly more degrees of freedom for existing SAP customers in designing their own maintenance and support strategy. This particularly concerns:

• Division of the SAP landscape into multiple Commercial Installations: Landscape components can be separated technically and contractually and maintained differently.
• Different support models per landscape component depending on the criticality and lifecycle of the respective system.
• New options for reducing licenses no longer needed through termination rights in the newly defined scenarios.
• Facilitation of carve-outs and restructuring through clearly regulated transfer and termination options for divestitures of business units.
• Broader access to Single Metric Contracts for larger contract volumes, which can simplify license calculation.
• Lower costs for later re-entry into SAP maintenance without the previously customary reinstatement fees and with lower back payments.

However, these new regulations do not automatically mean that a complete exit from SAP maintenance makes sense for every company. What is decisive is which systems still require manufacturer support, which landscape components can continue to operate stably without SAP maintenance, and where alternative or hybrid models, such as with third-party providers, are economically viable. A blanket cancellation without reliable analysis of one’s own landscape can lead to risks in security, compliance, and system stability.

Why now is the right time for an inventory

The new regulations coincide with a decision point that is already pending for many SAP users: Regular maintenance of the classic Business Suite will expire in the coming years, and migration to S/4HANA is on the agenda for numerous companies. Those who now conduct a thorough inventory of their own SAP contracts, licenses, and landscape components gain additional negotiating leverage, regardless of whether a partial cancellation, a switch to Single Metric Contracts, a combination of SAP and third-party support, or the unchanged continuation of the existing contract ultimately proves to be the most economically sensible option.

The Manage Now SAP Maintenance & Support Check

With our SAP Maintenance & Support Check, we examine together with you which of the new options are actually relevant for your specific SAP landscape. This includes:

• Analysis of existing SAP contracts and maintenance costs for possible optimizations and termination options.
• Comparison of license inventory and actual usage to identify unused or oversized licenses.
• Review of possible Commercial Installations for your system landscape.
• Assessment of partial cancellation and reduction options under the new EU regulations.
• Comparison and economic evaluation of SAP maintenance, alternative maintenance, and hybrid models.
• Classification of the impact on your further SAP and cloud strategy.

The goal is a reliable decision basis: technically, economically, and contractually aligned with the respective SAP landscape.

Conclusion: More options for action for SAP on-premise customers

The EU Commission’s decision of July 9, 2026 significantly expands the options for action for SAP on-premise customers, from dividing the landscape to new termination rights to more favorable conditions for re-entering maintenance. However, whether and to what extent these options are worthwhile for a specific company can only be answered based on a thorough analysis of one’s own SAP landscape. Blanket decisions carry both economic and technical risks.

Would you like to know which of the new options are relevant for your SAP landscape? Schedule an SAP Maintenance & Support Check with the Manage Now team.

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