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.