EN Official Journal of the European Union C 156/25

Notice published pursuant to Article 27(4) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 in Case COMP/B-1/39.316 — Gaz de France (gas market foreclosure)

(Text with EEA relevance)

2009/C 156/14

1. INTRODUCTION

(1) According to Article 9 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 (1), the Commission may decide — in cases where it intends to adopt a decision requiring that an infringement is brought to an end and the parties concerned offer commitments to address the concerns expressed to them by the Commission in its preliminary assessment — to make those commitments binding on the undertakings. Such a decision may be adopted for a specified period and shall conclude that there are no longer grounds for action by the Commission. According to Article 27(4) of the same Regulation, the Commission shall publish a concise summary of the case and the main content of the commitments. Interested parties may submit their comments within the time limit fixed by the Commission.

2. SUMMARY OF THE CASE

(2) On 22 June 2009 the Commission adopted a preliminary assessment pursuant to Article 9(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 concerning alleged infringements by Gaz de France Suez S.A. and its subsidiaries GRTgaz S.A. and Elengy S.A. (known jointly as ‘GDF Suez’) on the French gas markets.

(3) According to the preliminary assessment, GDF Suez is a dominant player in the gas import and supply markets in the two balancing zones (North and South) of the GRTgaz transport network. The Commission's preliminary assessment is that GDF Suez may have abused its dominant position within the meaning of Article 82 of the EC Treaty by foreclosing access to gas import capacities in France, thereby restricting competition on the supply markets. The foreclosure is deemed to be a result of the long-term reservation of most of France's import capacity, the procedures for allocating import capacity in the new Fos Cavaou liquefied natural gas terminal, and the strategic limitation of investments in additional import capacity in the Montoir de Bretagne liquefied natural gas terminal.

3. THE MAIN CONTENT OF THE PROPOSED COMMITMENTS

(4) GDF does not agree with the Commission’s preliminary assessment. It has nevertheless offered commitments pursuant to Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 to address the Commission’s competition concerns. The key elements of the commitments are summarised below (for details of all the points, see the text of the commitments).

(5) From 1 October 2010, and for the remaining duration of GDF Suez’ capacity bookings still to run at the date of notification of the decision which the Commission might adopt pursuant to Article 9(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003, GDF Suez will sell to third parties firm long-term capacities at the Obergailbach (80 GWh/day) and Taisnières-H (10 GWh/day) entry points.

(6) From 1 October 2010 GDF Suez will also sell to third parties equivalent upstream transport capacities running until 30 September 2027 at the Waidhaus entry point and the Medelsheim exit point; running until 30 September 2025 at the Zeebrugge entry point and the Blaregnies exit point and, at the request of the purchasers, running until 30 September 2018 on the Interconnector gas pipeline at the ‘NBP exit’ entry point and at the ‘Zeebrugge IZT entry zone’ exit point.

(7) GDF Suez will also sell to third parties firm long-term capacities in the Montoir de Bretagne (1 Gm3/year from 1 October 2010, and 1 Gm3/year from 1 October 2011) and Fos Cavaou (2,175 Gm3/year from 1 January 2011 (2)) liquefied natural gas terminals.

(8) From 1 October 2014 at the latest, and for a period of 10 years, GDF Suez will limit its capacity subscriptions to below 50 % of total firm long-term entry capacity of H-gas in the North and South balancing zones of the GRTgaz network and throughout French territory (3).

(9) Between 1 October 2014 and 1 October 2021, GDF Suez undertakes, with respect to the period from 1 October 2024 to 1 October 2029, to limit its capacity bookings of firm long-term entry capacities in H-gas in all infrastructure existing as of 1 October 2014 to less than 50 % of total firm long-term capacity available at this infrastructure.

(10) Lastly, GDF Suez undertakes to continue, under close to identical conditions to the existing ones, with the swap between H-gas and L-gas supplied to GRTgaz so that the latter can ensure the continuation of the regulated conversion service from H-gas into L-gas.

(11) An independent trustee will be asked to supervise the fulfilment of these commitments by GDF Suez.

(12) The commitments are published in full, in French, on the website of the Directorate-General for Competition at: http://ec.europa.eu/comm/competition/index_fr.html

4. INVITATION TO SUBMIT COMMENTS

(13) The Commission intends, subject to market testing, to adopt a decision under Article 9(1) of Regulation (EC) 1/2003 declaring the commitments summarised above and published on the Internet, on the website of the Directorate-General for Competition, to be binding.

(14) In accordance with Article 27(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003, the Commission invites interested third parties to submit their comments on the proposed commitments. Interested third parties are also asked to state in their comments whether they consider that the commitments which GDF Suez intends to make are likely to address the concerns raised. These comments must reach the Commission within the two months following the date of this Notice. Interested third parties are also asked to submit a non-confidential version of their comments, in which business secrets and other confidential passages are deleted and are replaced as required by a non-confidential summary or by the words ‘business secrets’ or ‘confidential’. Legitimate requests will be respected.

(15) Comments can be sent to the Commission under reference number COMP/B-1/39.316 — GDF (gas market foreclosure) either by e-mail (COMP-GREFFE-ANTITRUST@ec.europa.eu), by fax +32 22950128 or by post to the following address: European Commission Directorate-General for Competition Antitrust Registry 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel BELGIQUE/BELGIË

(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 of 16 December 2002 on the implementation of the rules on competition laid down in Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty (OJ L 1, 4.1.2003, p. 1).

(2) Of which 0,175 Gm3/year will primarily benefit transporters having booked short-term capacities at the Fos Cavaou terminal.

(3) For the purpose of the commitments, the gas entry points include all existing and future gas entry points in France, including the Spain-France entry point.