Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community - Convention on the Transitional Provisions - Part One - Implementation of the Treaty - Chapter 1 - Setting up of the institutions of the Community - The Commission - Article 2

1. The Commission shall take office upon the appointment of its Members.

2. In order to perform the tasks assigned to it by Article 1 of this Convention, the Commission shall exercise forthwith the information and study functions assigned to it by the Treaty, in the manner and with the powers provided in Articles 46, 47 and 48 and the third paragraph of Article 54. Once the Commission has taken office, the governments shall notify it in accordance with Article 67 of any action liable to have repercussions on conditions of competition, and in accordance with Article 75 of any provisions in trade agreements or arrangements having similar effect where these relate to coal and steel.

On the basis of information obtained concerning facilities existing and planned, the Commission shall determine the date from which the provisions of Article 54 other than those referred to in the preceding subparagraph shall apply to investment programmes and to projects already in process of execution on that date. The penultimate paragraph of Article 54 shall not apply, however, to projects for which orders were placed before 1 March 1951.

Once the Commission has taken office, it shall exercise where necessary, in consultation with the governments, the powers provided in Article 59(3).

It shall not exercise the other functions assigned to it by the Treaty until the opening date of the transitional period for each of the products in question.

3. On each of the opening dates referred to in the preceding paragraph, the Commission shall notify Member States that it is ready to assume the functions concerned. Until such notification the relevant powers shall continue to be exercised by Member States.

However, from a date which the Commission shall appoint on taking office, prior consultations shall be held between it and Member States concerning any laws or regulations which Member States may be planning to introduce on matters assigned to the jurisdiction of the Commission by the Treaty.

4. Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 67 relating to the effect of new measures, the Commission shall examine with the governments concerned the effect on the coal and steel industries of existing laws and regulations, including any which fix prices for by products not coming within its jurisdiction, and of such contractual social security schemes as are equivalent in effect to regulations. If it finds that some of these, by reason either of their own effects or of differences in them between two or more Member States, are liable seriously to distort conditions of competition in the coal or the steel industry, whether in the market of the countryin question or in the rest of the common market or in export markets, it shall, after consulting the Council, propose to the governments concerned any action which it considers will correct them or offset their effects.

5. In order to have a working basis which is independent of the practices of the various undertakings, the Commission shall seek to establish, in consultation with governments, undertakings and associations of undertakings, workers, and consumers and dealers, by what means it will be possible to make comparable:

- the price ranges for different qualities relative to the average price for the products, or for the successive stages of their production;

- the calculation of provision for depreciation.

6. During the preparatory period the main task of the Commission shall be to establish relations with undertakings and associations of undertakings, trade unions, and associations of consumers and dealers, in order to obtain practical knowledge of the general situation and of particular situations in the Community.

In the light of the information it obtains on markets, supplies, the production conditions of undertakings, the living conditions of workers, and modernization and equipment programmes, the Commission shall, in contact with all concerned, draw up an overall survey of the situation of the Community to guide their work together.

On the basis of these consultations and the overall picture thus formed, the measures shall be prepared which will be needed to establish the common market and facilitate the adaptation of production.