EU: General Court asked to review Thomson Reuters settlement

Investment information firm Morningstar has reportedly asked the EU’s second-highest court to review a settlement reached between the European Commission and Thomson Reuters over securities identification codes, say reports.

Morningstar released a statement Thursday announcing its request to the EU General Court, asking it to “reconsider its decision to exclude real-time data feed providers – such as Morningstar – from the scope of the remedy.”

The Commission settled with Thomson Reuters following an investigation launched in 2009 over the firm’s lack of rewriting codes, resulting in customers potentially being locked-in to working with the company.

But in its settlement, Thomson Reuters agreed to create a new license for the Reuters Instrument Codes to facilitate switching between real-time data-feed companies.

According to reports, Morningstar’s request puts into question the Commission’s use of settling with companies to extract concessions without fining the firm or officially finding any wrongdoing.

Full Content: Bloomberg

Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.