The European Commission may fine Microsoft again, after antitrust regulators from the 25 countries in the European Union gave unanimous support to the commission's plan to punish the company for failing to comply with its 2004 antitrust ruling. The company now faces a new fine which will run into hundreds of millions of dollars.

The commission, which acts as the main competition authority in the European Union, had told Microsoft in December last year that it had failed to comply with the March 2004 ruling. The commission has also said that the company could be fined, at current exchange rates, up to $2.6 million a day, starting last December.

On March 24, 2004, the commission fined Microsoft more than $600 million for leveraging its near-monopoly in the PC operating system market to gain advantage in the markets for workgroup server operating systems and media players. The commission had ordered Microsoft to release a version of Windows XP without a built-in media player, and to provide its competitors with details of certain communication protocols used by its server products.

The commission had also appointed a monitoring trustee to keep tabs on Microsoft's progress in meeting the remedies. Initially, Microsoft claimed it had submitted adequate information, but in April the company said it finally understood what information the regulator was asking for.

Since then, it has been working closely with the commission and the trustee, Neil Barrett, a computer expert picked by Microsoft to monitor the company's compliance with the 2004 ruling.

Microsoft said in a statement that it is dedicating "massive resources" to ensure that it meets "the aggressive schedule and the high quality standard" set by the commission and the trustee.

Another meeting between the commission and national regulators next Monday will decide how much fine Microsoft will have to pay for failing to honour the 2004 ruling.

A final ruling is expected on July 12.