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EC 'criticised' over handling of Intel antitrust case

David Meyer ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 10 Aug 2009 13:06 BST

The EU ombudsman has written a report criticising the European Commission over its handling of the Intel antitrust case, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The WSJ said in an article on Saturday that it had seen P. Nikiforos Diamandouros's report, which apparently noted the Commission's failure to record a 2006 evidence-gathering meeting with an unidentified Dell executive. According to the newspaper, the ombudsman said this amounted to "maladministration".

In May, Intel received a record €1.06bn (£905m) fine from the Commission, which found that the chipmaker used rebates and other payments to pressure PC manufacturers and retail chains into using its chips, rather than those of rivals such as AMD — the original complainant in the case.

The Dell executive who was interviewed by the Commission, however, is reported as saying that the PC manufacturer viewed AMD's performance as "very poor". This could be seen as suggesting a technical, rather than pressure-related, reason for going with Intel rather than AMD.

Intel launched an appeal against the Commission's decision and fine in late July, arguing that certain evidence had been "ignored or misinterpreted".

On Monday, a spokesperson for the ombudsman refused to give any comment on the WSJ's story, or to confirm when or if the report will be published. The ombudsman's remit is to investigate complaints of maladministration in the institutions and bodies of the European Union.

A spokesperson for the Commission told ZDNet UK that Intel's right of defence had been respected, but refused to give further comment. AMD, Intel and Dell also declined to comment.