RPT-UPDATE 2-EU opens probe into Thomson Reuters coding tool

* EU says probe does not imply proof of antitrust violation

* EU says probe launched on its own initiative

* Thomson Reuters says cooperating with European Commission

* EU says competitors do not have similar restriction

(repeats to reach more customers)

BRUSSELS, Nov 10 (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators launched an investigation on Tuesday into news and financial data publisher Thomson Reuters' (TRI.TO) coding practice, saying the structure might discourage customers from moving to rival firms. The European Commission, which polices competition in the 27-country European Union, said the investigation was launched on its own initiative and that it did not imply it had proof of an infringement.

The Commission said it would examine whether Thomson Reuters could prevent clients from mapping Reuters Instrument Codes (RICs) to alternative identification codes of other datafeed suppliers.

"Without the possibility of such mapping, customers may potentially be 'locked'-in to working with Thomson Reuters because replacing RICs by reconfiguring or by rewriting their software applications can be a long and costly procedure," it said in a statement.

RICs -- codes that identify financial instruments including shares in companies, currencies, and futures contracts -- are used to retrieve information from Thomson Reuters' real-time datafeeds. The feeds are virtual pipelines of electronically distributed real-time market data that supply software applications developed by banks and financial institutions.

Thomson Reuters confirmed it had received a questionnaire from the Commission on the use of RICs and that it was cooperating with the Commission.

"Thomson Reuters provides its customers with consistent, dependable and convenient access to several million financial instruments from almost every electronic trading venue around the world," the company said in a statement.

"Thomson Reuters data is reliably and consistently identified by a managed code, which we create and maintain to enable navigation of the company's global content."

RESTRICTION

Jonathan Todd, a spokesman for the European Commission, told a news conference the commission's concern was that Thomson Reuters customers were unable to use alternative market datafeeds alongside the company's service.

"There are three actual and potential competitors for Thomson Reuters in this area and none of them have this restriction," he said.

Thomson Reuters was formed last year by the merger of Thomson Corp and Reuters Group Plc. Its markets division competes with Bloomberg LP and News Corp (NWSA.O)'s Dow Jones Newswires.

There is no strict deadline for the Commission to complete its investigation.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee, editing by Timothy Heritage and Andrew Callus)