BRUSSELS, June 1: The European Union on Wednesday began studying proposals from Microsoft to end an antitrust row that has seen it threatened with heavy fines. The European Union’s executive commission said it would probably take “a few weeks” to decide whether it was satisfied with the Microsoft proposals, submitted hours before a midnight Tuesday deadline.

“The contacts continued late yesterday evening and now we’re examining what they’ve put on the table,” Jonathon Todd, spokesman for European competition commissioner Neelie Kroes, told AFP.

“The commission will now carefully analyse what has been put on the table and decide whether or not we consider that Microsoft has complied with the March 2004 decision,” he said.

“That analysis is probably going to take a few weeks.”

In March 2004, the commission, which polices antitrust issues in the EU, fined the software group a record 497 million euros ($623m) for abusing its dominant market position and issued demands to correct the abuse.

Microsoft is facing a daily fine corresponding to five per cent of its world sales, or $5 million per day, if it does not comply with the decision. The company’s Brussels office confirmed that it had submitted proposals before midnight Tuesday. “Now, we will await their response,” said a Microsoft spokesman.

Microsoft’s previous attempts to implement the ruling have fallen foul of the regulators. If the latest proposals are not acceptable, the commission will notify the company of its intention to impose the fine.—AFP