Brussels - The European Union's executive has launched an anti-trust probe into news group Thomson Reuters, to investigate whether its real-time business data feeds may be set up to keep competitors out of the market, the European Commission announced Tuesday.

If found guilty, the company could face a heavy fine and be forced to change its system.

"The commission will investigate Thomson Reuters' practices in the area of real time market data feeds, and in particular whether customers or competitors are prevented from translating Reuters Instrument Codes (RICs) to alternative identification codes ... to the detriment of competition," a statement said.

"The opening of proceedings does not imply that the commission has proof of an infringement. It signifies that the commission will conduct an in-depth investigation of the case as a matter of priority," the statement stressed.

The commission's concerns have been raised by Reuters' use of its RICs, short codes which identify securities and the markets on which they are traded.

The codes allow clients to follow in real time the evolution of share prices. But the commission fears that the Reuters system might block clients from comparing the RICs with equivalent codes used by other news suppliers.

If that were the case, "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," the statement said.

There is no deadline for the investigation to be concluded. (dpa)