After the European Commission launched a formal investigation in July 2023 into whether Microsoft is inadmissibly bundling its communication and collaboration solution Teams with its business suites, Microsoft is responding and is now proactively making changes to the Microsoft 365 and Office business suites. The Salesforce subsidiary Slack had already complained about this to the European Commission three years ago.

Fundamental changes

• From October 1, 2023, Microsoft will introduce new commercial Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites in the EEA and Switzerland that will not include Teams. The offerings without Teams will be offered at a lower price. At the same time, new Teams offerings will be introduced so that Teams can continue to be rented as a standalone product. The new products will be labeled with the abbreviation EEA (European Economic Area). The change will not affect existing subscriptions.
  
  
• Microsoft will improve interoperability between Teams and competing communication and collaboration solutions by supporting open interfaces and standards that enable other providers to integrate their services with Microsoft 365 and Office 365.
  
  
• Microsoft will increase transparency and choice for customers by providing them with clearer information about the features and pricing of its products and giving them the option to deactivate or uninstall Teams if they do not want to use it.

Changes to the Microsoft 365 business suites

The current Microsoft 365 Business Suites will remain in place alongside the new offerings. Customers in the EEA and Switzerland can choose between the existing suites Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Microsoft 365 Business Standard and Microsoft 365 Business Premium with Teams or the new EEA-specific versions Microsoft 365 Business Basic EEA, Microsoft 365 Business Standard EEA and Microsoft 365 Business Premium EEA without Teams.

Changes to business packages

With the introduction of the new commercial product line, sales of the current enterprise suites that include Teams will be discontinued for new subscribers. As a result, the suites Office 365 E1, Office 365 E3, Office 365 E5, Microsoft 365 E3 and Microsoft 365 E5 with Teams will no longer be available for new subscribers in the EEA and Switzerland.

• Customers currently subscribed to one of the affected suites will have new options. They can continue to use their current plans as usual, renew and add new seats. If they wish to switch to the new product range, they can do so when their contract expires or is renewed.
  
  
• New subscribers to Office/Microsoft 365 Enterprise suites who want to make Teams available to their end users will need to purchase two SKUs: an EEA-specific Microsoft 365 or Office 365 EEA suite and Microsoft Teams EEA.

Changes to frontline suites

The current Frontline suites will remain in place alongside the new offerings. Customers in the EEA and Switzerland can choose between the existing Microsoft 365 F1, Office 365 F3 and Microsoft 365 F3 suites with Teams or the new EEA-specific versions Microsoft 365 F1 EEA, Office 365 F3 EEA and Microsoft 365 F3 EEA without Teams.

Further questions and answers