EU antitrust regulators investigate Microsoft over browsers

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators have opened an investigation into whether Microsoft is complying with a 2009 ruling ordering it to offer users a choice of web browsers, the European Union's antitrust chief said on Tuesday.

"We take compliance with our decisions very seriously. And I trusted the company's reports were accurate. But it seems that was not the case, so we have immediately taken action," Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told a news conference.

"If following our investigation, the infringement is confirmed, Microsoft should expect sanctions," he said, adding that regulators aimed to complete the investigation as fast as possible.

Almunia said it was the first time that the Commission had dealt with a case in which an offender was suspected of failing to meet its commitments under antitrust rulings.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Rex Merrifield)