EU commission probes alleged Intel requirement

The EU's head office yesterday expanded its probe into whether EU governments are illegally requiring that the computers they buy must contain microprocessors made by Intel Corp.

The European Commission sent formal notices to France, the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden seeking information on public tenders for computers that either contain Intel chips or specify a chip speed only the US giant can provide.

Similar were sent this year to Italy and Germany and their replies are now being evaluated.

The commission said it believes such requirements violate European law on public procurement.

"You can specify the performance you are looking for in a particular computer problem, but not a specification that can only be met by one manufacturer," said commission spokesman Jonathan Todd.

The commission began investigating after receiving complaints from Intel's competitors. EU officials would not name the companies, but Intel's largest rival is Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Both are based in California and have a strong presence in Europe.

AMD accused Intel of unfair sales practices in Europe, such as offering loyalty rebates to customers and signing exclusive purchasing agreements.

In June, EU antitrust regulators said they would look into Intel's business practices again after AMD refused to withdraw its complaint. The EU had reached a preliminary conclusion in 2002 that there was insufficient evidence to bring any charges.

AMD in Germany did not immediately respond to messages left with them. Intel spokesman Kristof Sehmke in Belgium had no immediate comment.

In the latest probe, EU officials have backed away from accusing Intel of violating EU competition rules, adding they did not know why governments put Intel-only clauses in bid requirements.

The four countries cited have two months to respond to the notices. They could be hauled before the European Court of Justice if the contracts are found to violate EU rules and they fail to rectify them.

The commission said it was concerned about roughly a dozen tenders by local authorities or public bodies in France; an invitation to tender by the municipality of Amsterdam; three tenders from universities in Finland; and others in Sweden.