EU Panel Reportedly Backs Microsoft Fine

European regulators are recommending that Microsoft Corp. be fined as much as $2.5 million for each day that it failed to disclose information on Windows to competitors, said four people familiar with the draft ruling.

The European Commission in Brussels told national competition authorities last week that Microsoft had failed to provide sufficient information to competitors on the inner workings of the operating system, as required under a March 2004 ruling, said the people, who declined to be identified because the decision wasn’t public.

Competitors and regulators say the Redmond, Wash.- based software maker, whose products run on about 95% of the world’s personal computers, resisted complying with an order to disclose how Windows communicates over a network. The fines, which the commission has said would be backdated to Dec. 15, could total hundreds of millions of dollars.

Representatives of the 25-member European Union will meet Monday to discuss the draft decision and again July 10 to decide how much to fine the software company, the people said.

“Microsoft has complied fully with every instruction given by the commission,” the company said. “Any fine would be unjustified and unnecessary.”

Shares in Microsoft rose 32 cents to $22.82.