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EU official to work with Microsoft

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BRUSSELS: A European Commission official who has ample knowledge about the EU executive's antitrust case against Microsoft Corp has been granted leave of absence to work for the firm from next Monday, Commission officials informed. The Commission, which is nearing the end of a long-running investigation of allegations that the U.S. software giant abused its dominance of the Windows operating system for personal computers, denied there was any potential conflict of interest.



Information Society Director General Fabio Colasanti, the EU Commission top official who signed the leave of absence for head of unit Detlef Eckert, said he stood by his decision.



"I accepted Eckert's request for the leave of absence," Colasanti told Reuters. "I was perfectly aware of the official's responsibilities and those of his unit. But he pledged to respect the Commission's statutory obligations for what concerns conflict of interest." Another Commission official, who asked not to be identified, said that Eckert had interviewed a number of Microsoft rivals who had complained about the software giant's behavior.



Commission spokesman Per Haugaard said Eckert, a head of unit in the Information Society directorate, had signed a paper promising not to reveal sensitive information to Microsoft. "We don't believe he will give any confidential information to Microsoft," said Haugaard.



Eckert will work as a security officer responsible for Microsoft's "Trustworthy Computing" initiative in Europe, which deals with questions of privacy and security.



Trustworthy Computing Initiative


A spokeswoman for Microsoft said that Eckert would explain the Trustworthy Computing initiative to academics, businesses and others, help those inside the company become more familiar with it and help provide feedback to company headquarters to help in product development.



She said he would be working as part of the company's dot-Net group. "He will not be involved with our legal team," said the spokeswoman. Colasanti said the bulk of the case against Microsoft is being handled by the Competition directorate, rather than the information society directorate in which Eckert works. But EU officials Eckert nonetheless had a hand in the probe.



Colasanti said the Commission had no track record of the fact that Eckert had been involved as recently as February 2001 in interviewing companies that complained against Microsoft and that he had promised to seek further information. He said his directorate had not received a single document from the competition department concerning Microsoft since July 2001.



But Ed Black, president of the Computer and Communications Industry Association and a long-time opponent of Microsoft's business tactics, said he attended one meeting with Eckert. At that meeting, the trade association disclosed its plans for battling to rein in Microsoft's tactics.



"We opened up and shared our thoughts and strategy and how we thought about things," Black said in a telephone interview. Two other sources -- one within the Commission and one outside it -- said that Eckert had met with other firms as well which had complaints about Microsoft.



"He had meetings with Microsoft competitors," said a Commission official who asked not be identified. "They disclosed confidential material to him." Although standing firm on his decision to grant a leave of absence to Eckert, Colasanti said the Commission, like many other public administrations, should look into how it handles the problem of conflict of interest. "It's something the Commission has to think about.," he said. "This is an issue that concerns all public administrations."



(Additional reporting by Tom Miles )



© Reuters

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