Opinion of the Advisory Committee on concentrations given at its 129th meeting on 19 October 2004 concerning a preliminary draft decision relating to Case COMP/M.3216 — Oracle/PeopleSoft
Date: 2004-10-19
Institutions: Advisory Committee on Concentrations
Subjects: advisory committee (EU), application of EU law, competition law, computer systems, economic concentration, merger control, software

C 206/8

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

23.8.2005

Opinion of the Advisory Committee on concentrations given at its 129th meeting on 19 October
2004 concerning a preliminary draft decision relating to Case COMP/M.3216 — Oracle/PeopleSoft

(2005/C 206/08)

1. The Advisory Committee agrees with the Commission that the notified operation constitutes a concen-
tration within the meaning of the Merger Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89 and that it has a Community
dimension as defined by that Regulation.

2. The Advisory Committee agrees with the Commission that there is a relevant product market for:

a. High-function human resources (HR) solutions for large and complex enterprises;

b. High-function financial management (FMS) solutions for large and complex enterprises.

3. The Advisory Committee agrees with the Commission that best-of-breed software is not part of the

markets for high-function FMS and HR solutions.

4. The Advisory Committee agrees with the Commission that outsourcers do not represent competitive

constraints vis-à-vis high-function HR and FMS software.

5. The Advisory Committee agrees with the Commission that consultants and system integrators, as well

as in-house systems, do not exert any substantial competitive constraint on the EAS market.

6. The Advisory Committee agrees with the Commission that the above mentioned product markets are

global in scope.

7. The Advisory Committee agrees with the Commission that in the markets for high-function FMS and
HR for large and complex enterprises, Oracle, PeopleSoft and SAP are the main players, but that it
cannot be excluded that Lawson, Intentia, IFS, Qad and Microsoft are vendors in those markets.

8. The Advisory Committee agrees with the Commission that the proposed concentration will not lead
to the creation nor the strengthening of a single dominant position in the markets for high-function
FMS and HR for large and complex enterprises.

9. The Advisory Committee agrees with the Commission that the proposed concentration will not lead
to the creation nor the strengthening of a collective dominant position in the markets for high-func-
tion FMS and HR for large and complex enterprises.

10. The Advisory Committee agrees with the Commission that the proposed concentration does not create
nor strengthen a dominant position as a result of which effective competition would be significantly
impeded in the Common Market or in a substantial part of it and that the concentration therefore is
to be declared compatible with the Common Market and with the EEA Agreement.

11. The Advisory Committee recommends publication of its opinion in the Official Journal of the European

Union.

12. The Advisory Committee asks the Commission to take into account all the other points raised during

the discussion.