Final report of the Hearing Officer in Case COMP/E-2/39.140 — DaimlerChrysler (Pursuant to Articles 15 and 16 of Commission Decision 2001/462/EC, ECSC of 23 May 2001 on the terms of reference of Hearing Officers in certain competition proceedings — OJ L 162, 19.6.2001, p. 21 )
Date: 2007-07-11
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: after-sales service, application of EU law, competition law, general mechanical engineering, merger control, motor car, restrictive trade practice, restrictive-practice authorisation, spare part

5.12.2007

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 291/11

Final report of the Hearing Officer in Case COMP/E-2/39.140 — DaimlerChrysler

(Pursuant to Articles 15 and 16 of Commission Decision 2001/462/EC, ECSC of 23 May 2001 on the terms of
reference of Hearing Officers in certain competition proceedings — OJ L 162, 19.6.2001, p. 21)

(2007/C 291/05)

The draft Decision presented to the Commission under Article 9 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 (1)
relates to the supply of technical information for the repair of DaimlerChrysler AG's Mercedes-Benz and
Smart brand vehicles.

The Commission opened an investigation into DaimlerChrysler AG's provision of its technical information
to independent repairers on 22 December 2004, following the publication of a study by the German
research institute IKA. On 1 December 2006, the Commission opened proceedings under Chapter III of
Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 and adopted a preliminary assessment as referred to in Article 9(1) of Regulation
(EC) No 1/2003. This assessment set out
the Commission's competition concerns, which were that
DaimlerChrysler AG seemed to have excluded all but its authorised repairers from full access to its technical
information. The Commission's preliminary assessment was sent to DaimlerChrysler AG on 1 December
2006.

In response to this, DaimlerChrysler AG submitted commitments on 14 February 2007.

Journal of the European Union,
On 22 March 2007, the Commission published a notice in the Official
pursuant to Article 27(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003, inviting interested companies to transmit observa-
tions on this notification within one month of its publication. The comments received in response to this
invitation mainly confirmed the effectiveness of the commitments proposed by DaimlerChrysler AG.

the commitments proposed by
The Commission has now come to the conclusion that,
DaimlerChrysler AG, and without prejudice to Article 9(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003, there are no
longer grounds for action.

in view of

In a Decision under Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003, a breach of the competition rules is not estab-
lished, but the Parties accept to remedy the concerns expressed by the Commission in a preliminary assess-
ment. There is in this process a willingness on both sides to simplify the administrative and legal require-
ments which are inherent in a full investigation of a suspected infringement. This is the reason why in
several Decisions taken already by the College (2), it has been accepted that due process is satisfied when the
Parties inform the Commission that they have received sufficient access to the information they considered
necessary to propose commitments in order to meet the concerns expressed by the Commission.

This case has also been dealt with in the same manner, DaimlerChrysler AG having submitted a Declaration
to the Commission to this effect on 22 May 2007.

In the light of the above, I consider that the rights to be heard have been respected in this case.

Brussels, 11 July 2007.

Karen WILLIAMS

(1) OJ L 1, 4.1.2003, p. 1.
(2) Cf. Decision of 22 June 2005 in Case COMP/39.116 — Coca-Cola and Decision of 19 January 2005 in Case

COMP/37.214 — DFB.