BRUSSELS — The European Union said today it is dropping antitrust charges against Microsoft after the company agreed to give Windows users a choice of up to 12 other Web browsers.

Under the terms of the deal, Microsoft will avoid further EU fines if it provides a pop-up screen that lets European users — from March — replace Microsoft's Internet Explorer or add another browser such as Mozilla's Firefox or Google's Chrome.

This will also allow computer manufacturers to ship PCs without Internet Explorer in Europe.

Neelie Kroes, the EU's competition commissioner, said it was an "early Christmas present for more than hundreds of millions of Europeans" who stood to benefit from having "effective and unbiased choice" between Microsoft's Internet Explorer and competing browsers.

"The (European) Commission has resolved a serious competition concern for a key market for the development of the Internet," she told reporters.

"It is as if you went to the supermarket and they only offered you one brand of shampoo on the shelf, and all the other choices are hidden out the back, and not everyone knows about them," she said. "What we are saying today is that all the brands should be on the shelf."

Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith said the company was pleased with "final resolution of several long-standing competition law issues in Europe" and looked forward to building "on the dialogue and trust that has been established between Microsoft and the Commission."

The deal comes after more than a decade of EU antitrust action against the world's biggest software company.