EU names trustee for Microsoft ruling compliance

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission has appointed a computer scientist to help ensure that Microsoft complies with a 2004 ruling on how its software is sold, a latest step in the landmark anti-trust case.

Neil Barrett was one of several candidates proposed by the US giant as a monitoring trustee and he was selected by competition authorities in Brussels to advise them.

"Professor Barrett will begin his mandate immediately," the Commission said in a statement on Wednesday.

Competition Commission Neelie Kroes said the Commission was "absolutely determined to ensure that Microsoft complies fully with the (2004 anti-trust) decision."

Last year, Brussels ordered Microsoft to change the way it sells software in Europe and to pay a fine of nearly 500 million euros (US$596 million). The decision also foresaw the naming of a trustee to monitor compliance by the company.

Microsoft is seeking to overturn the decision in court.

Commissioner Kroes met Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer on Wednesday.

The meeting took place "within the normal course of relationships between the Commission and Microsoft" and Kroes informed Ballmer of the appointment of the trustee, her office said in a statement.

Kroes later said that she and Ballmer planned to hold regular meetings.

"When he is here in my office in a couple of months, don't (think) that there is a problem," she said.

Microsoft welcomed the appointment of Barrett, saying in a statement that "we look forward to working constructively with him to ensure the company's full compliance with the Commission's decision."

Microsoft lost an appeal last year against the requirement to implement the remedies proposed by Brussels while its wider appeal against the decision works its way through the legal system.