CELEX: 31958D0003
Language: en
Date: 1958-03-18 00:00:00
Title: ECSC High Authority: Decision No 3/58 of 18 March 1958 on alignment of prices for sales of coal in the common market

Official Journal of the European Communities                                     55
29.3.58                             EUROPEAN COAL AND STEEL COMMUNITY                                            157/58
                                           THE HIGH AUTHORITY
                                                  DECISION No 3-58
                                                   of 18 March 1958
                           on alignment of prices for sales of coal in the common market
THE HIGH AUTHORITY,                                           Whereas the exercise of the right to align presupposes
                                                               that the fuels to be supplied are comparable to those
Having regard to Article 60 (2) ( b) and 47 of the             in the price list of competitors ; whereas criteria
Treaty ;                                                       enabling fuels to be compared by category and grade
                                                              should be laid down ;
Having regard to Decision No 30-53 of 2 May 1953
concerning practices prohibited in the common                 Whereas in order to prevent illicit under-quotation,
market for coal and steel under Article 60 ( 1 ) of the        undertakings are required under Article 3 of Decision
Treaty (Official Journal of the Community of 4 May            No 30-53 to have regard to all the terms of the com­
1953 , p. 109);
                                                              petitor's price list when calculating the delivered
                                                              price;
Whereas in view of the special conditions of produc­          Whereas, since there are differences in the quality of
tion and sale :n the coal industry, and the structure of      the products of undertakings in the Community coal
the common market for coal, unrestricted alignment            industry, special rules must be adopted having regard
by undertakings on the more advantageous delivered            to the ash and water contents of these products and
prices of some competitors can be expected to give            quality surcharges ;
rise, in the whole o ' any part of the common market,
to disturbances contrary to the objectives laid down
in Articles 2 aid 3 of the Treaty ;                           Whereas, in order that delivered prices may be calcu­
                                                              lated accurately, undertakings must be required to
                                                              know the exact amount of the transport costs ;
Whereas there may be a danger that if the right to             whereas ; however, the special nature of road transport
align were to be excercised without restriction , pro­        necessitates that alignment should be barred where
ducers would be oasted from their customary sales             this mode of transport is used ;
areas, that local price reductions resulting from align­
ment would be set off by increased list prices, and           Whereas Community undertakings apply different
that the most ratioral distribution of production and         rules to sales, and also have different ways of fixing
sale of coal would thereby permanently be jeopard­            the commission for negotiating sale ; whereas under­
ised ;                                                        takings must, therefore, in respect of deliveries to cus­
                                                              tomers, be required to take into account where ap­
Whereas, the alignment of coal prices in the common           propriate the additional charge represented by this
market must, therefore, be subject to special con­            commission in calculating the delivered price ;
ditions and restricticns in order to avoid such disturb­
ances ;                                                       Whereas so that the effect of the transactions carried
                                                               out by undertakings as- a result of alignment may be
Whereas the right to align must to this end be con­            assessed and so that a check may be kept as to
fined to the price lists of undertakings and selling          whether this Decision is applied correctly, undertak­
agencies which , because of the volume of production ,         ings must be required to notify the High Authority at
are influential in the formation of prices in the com­        regular intervals of the character and amount of the
mon marker; whereas, furthermore, the tonnages                 transactions that they carry out under alignment;
which undertakings may supply under alignment in
the common market should be limited ;                         After consulting the Consultative Committee ;
 ---pagebreak--- 56                                 Official Journal of the European Communities
DECIDES :                                                    — Rheinischer Braunkohlenbrikett-Verkauf GmbH .
                                                                   Köln .
                         Article 1
                                                             2.      Alignment shall not be allowed between under­
1 . Undertakings in the coal industry may use their          takings belonging to the same selling agency.
right to align their prices on a competitor's price-list
established on another basing point and securing for
the buyer the most advantageous conditions at the                                       Article 3
place of delivery ( alignment) only in accordance with
the provisions of the following Articles of this             1 . Sales effected under alignment in any coal in­
Decision .                                                   dustry financial year shall not exceed 20% of the
                                                             tonnage of coal marketed in the- common market by
2.    This Decision shall also apply to the selling          the undertaking or selling agency during the preced­
agencies of undertakings in the coal industry.               ing financial year.
3.    Article 3 of Decision No 30-53 shall remain un­        2.      In each of the sales areas listed below, under­
changed.                                                     takings may align only up to the tonnage marketed
                                                             by them in that area during the- preceding coal indus­
                                                             try financial year.
                         Article 2
                                                             By way of exception, for the financial year 1958/59
                                                             the reference figures used as the basis for calculation
1.    Undertakings in the coal industry shall align          shall be the tonnages marketed during the financial
their prices on the price-lists of none other than the       year 1956/57.
undertakings and selling agencies listed below :
                                                             The sales areas for purposes of this provision shall be
— Geitling Ruhrkohlen-Verkaufsgesellschaft mbH,              the following :
    Essen
— Mausegatt Ruhrkohlen-Verkaufsgesellschaft mbH,             ( a ) In the Federal Republic of Germany :
    Essen
                                                                   — the North German coastal region bounded on
— Präsident Ruhrkohlen-Verkaufsgcsellschaft mbH,                        the south by the railway line ( and including
    Essen                                                              places on that line): Charlottenpolder, Ihr­
                                                                        hoven , Leer, Oldenburg, Delmenhorst, Bre­
— Aachener Kohlenverkauf GmbH, Aachen                                   men (including the area belonging to the Free
— Saarbergwerke AG, Saarbrucken                                         State of Bremen), Manndorf, Langwedel, Sol­
                                                                       tau , Uelzen , Oldenstadt, Dannenburg-Ost ;
— Houillères du bassin du Nord et du Pas-de-Calais,
    Douai                                                          — Lower Saxony to the south of that railway
                                                                       line ;
— Houillères du bassin de Lorraine, Metz
                                                                , — North Rhineland-Westphalia ;
— Houillères du bassin d'Aquitaine, Toulouse
                                                                   — Rhineland-Pfalz north of the Mosel and the
— Houillères du bassin d'Auvergne, Clermont-Fer­                       Lahn (including places on those rivers );
    rand
                                                                   — Hesse north of the railway line ( and including
— Houillères du bassin de Blanzy, Montceau-les-                        places on that line)': Limburg, Weilburg, Gies­
    Mines                                                              sen, Alsfeld, Fulda, Gersfeld ;
— Houillères du bassin des Cévennes, Alès                          — the remainder of the territory of the Federal
— Houillères du bassin de la Loire, St. Etienne                         Republic i.e. the remainder of Rhineland-
                                                                        Pfalz and of Hesse, Saarland, the Länder of
— Comptoir belge des charbons, Bruxelles                               Baden, Wurtemburg and Bavaria .
— Domaniale Mijn-Maatschappij , Kerkrade
                                                             (b) Belgium and Luxembourg
— Nederlandse Steenkolenmijnen           Willem-Sophia,
    Spekholzerheide                                          (c) In France:
— Mattschappij Laura and Vereniging, Eygelshoven                   — Eastern France i.e. the following departments :
— Maatschappij Orangje-Nassau, Heerlen                                 Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin, Moselle, Meurthe-et-
                                                                       Moselle, Vosges, the Territory of Belfort,
— Verkoopkantoor der Staatsmijnen in Limburg,                          Haut-Saône, Doubs, Meuse, Haute-Marne,
    Den Haag                                                            Ardennes, Marne-et-Aube.
 ---pagebreak---                                          Official Journal of the European Communities                                   57
      — the regions of Northern and north-western                  ing the actual vouchers that the details supplied by
           France bounded on the east by the following             the purchaser or carrier concerning the amount of
           departments |and inclusive thereof): Loire­             transport costs are accurate. If such evidence is not
           Inferieure, Maine-et-Loire, Indre-et-Loire,             supplied, transport costs shall be calculated on the
           Loire-et-Cher, Loire-et-Yonne.                          basis of published rates.
      — the regions of Southern and south western                  3 . The delivered price of the competitor shall not
           France : i.e. all other French departments .            be calculated on the basis of carriage by road. Align­
(d ) Italy                                                         ment shall not be allowed where the fuel supplied is
                                                                   carried bv road .
{e The Netherlands
                                                                                           Article 6
3 . The tonnages referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2
shall apply sep?.ratel> to each of the following prod­
ucts :                                                             Alignment on a competitor's more favourable de­
                                                                   livered price shall be allowed only if the fuels to be
(a) high volatile bituminous           ] .        .                delivered and the fuels in the competitor's price list
      coals gas coals ,
      1 -
                                          larger than 10 mm
                                          smaller than 10 mm
                                                                   are comparable in category and grade.
      bituminous coals                 j
( b) semi-bituminous coals             1 .        ,   „.                                   Article 7
      low volatile coals                  larS« th?" w ™m
      anthracite                          smaller than 10 ram
                                                                   1.    The comparability of the various categories of
(c) coke                                                           coal shall be by reference to their content of volatile
                                                                   matter. The volatile matter content shown in the
 ( d) briquettes.                                                  price lists for the various categories of coal shall be
                                                                   the determining factor.
4. Upon receipt o : an application setting out the
reasons therefor the High Authority may, in favour                 2. Fuels with a volatile matter content exceeding
of certain undertakiig or selling agencies, increase               33% shall be comparable both mutually and with
the maximum tonnages indicated in the preceding                    fuels having a lower volatile matter content.
paragraphs.
                                                                   3 . Fuels having a content of volatile matter of not
                                                                   more than 33% shall be comparable if their mini­
                             Article 4
                                                                   mum contents of volatile matter, as shown in the
                                                                   price lists, are equal . If these are not equal, fuels
1 . Undertakings which have several production                     which are in the same category shall nevertheless be
sites in different geographical areas and do not have              comparable provided the difference between their
a single point of deliver)' for sales purposes, and                minimum contents of volatile matter is of no more
which intend to align their price-lists on those of                than 2% . In the case of anthracite and low volatile
certain competitors, shall, for purposes of alignment,             coal this margin shall be limited to 1% .
choose one of the points of delivery of the competi­
tors .
                                                                                           Article 8
2.      In making this choice undertakings shall take
account of the geographical location of the produc­                1 . The comparability of the various grades of coal
tion sites of the various categories of coal and of the            shall be by reference to size. Grades of coal shall be
points of delivery in relation to the sales areas.                 comparable if the difference in size does not exceed
                                                                   20% in respect of the lower limit and 10% in respect
3 . The High Authority may dispute the choice of                   of the upper limit.
point of delivery if this does not meet the require­
ments set out in the preceding paragraph.                          2. Grades of manufactured fuels shall be compar­
                                                                   able if they have the same weight per unit.
                             Article 5                             Ovoids shall be comparable if their differences in
                                                                   weight per unit and in ash content do not exceed
                                                                   10% .
1.      Alignment shall be permitted only if the under­
taking is able to ascertain exactly the amount of the              Brown coal briquettes and hard coal briquettes shall
transport costs to the place of destination.                       not be comparable .
2.      If the undertalcing which is aligning does not             3 . "Washed grades of coal shall not be comparable
know the transport costs it shall ascertain by examin­             with unwashed grades.
 ---pagebreak---  58                                   Official Journal of the European Communities
 4. If the price list of the undertaking effecting              of sale, the undertaking effecting alignment shall, in
 alignment includes grades of coal the size of which            calculating the delivered price of the competitor, take
 corresponds exactly to those of the competitor's               account of the additional commission which the con­
 grades, and also grades of coal the size of which is           sumer would have to pay to the dealer if the con­
comparable with those of the competitor's grades, hav­          sumer had a delivery of the competitor's fuel.
 ing regard to the tolerance indicated in paragraphs 1
 and 2 then in such case only the grades of coal which
 correspond exactly shall be comparable .                                                 Article 14
                                                                1 . Undertakings or selling agencies which intend to
                          Article 9                             align their prices on the delivered prices of certain
                                                                competitors, shall give general notification to the
 In calculating the delivered price at the point of desti­      High Authority of the following :
 nation, undertakings effecting alignment shall take
 account of all such terms in the competitor's price list       ( a) the undertakings or selling agencies on whose
 as go to determine the amount of the delivered price.               price lists alignment is to be effected ;
 This shall apply in particular to increases or reduc­          (b ) the sales areas to which deliveries are to be made
tions in prices in respect of ash and water contents                  as a result of alignment;
and to quality surcharges .
                                                                (c) the points of delivery chosen in accordance with'
                                                                     Article 4 of this Decision .
                       Article 10
 1.    If the price of the competitor does not contain          2 . The High Authority shall communicate this in­
 indices for price correctives in respect of ash and            formation to the undertakings concerned .
 water contents, the High Authority may, upon appli­
 cation setting out the reasons thereof, authorise an                                     Article IS
 undertaking wishing to align on that competitor's
price list to use, when calculating the delivered price,        On 15 January, 15 July and 15 October of each year,
the indices for price correctives having regard to ash          undertakings shall inform the High Authority of the
 and water contents as contained in its own price list.         following :
                                                                ( a) the tonnages of fuel and the agreed delivery
2. Before granting this authorisation the High                       periods' for which supply contracts were concluded
Authority shall obtain the opinion of the competitor
                                                                     under alignment during the preceding quarter;
 and possibly that of other undertakings.
                                                                (b) the total tonnages of fuel supplied . during the
                                                                     preceding quarter in the common market and in
                           Article 11                                each of the sales areas listed in Article 3 (2); the
If indices for price correctives in respect of ash and               quantities supplied in transactions effected under
water contents are used to calculate the delivered                   alignment shall be shown separately.
price of the competitor, the undertaking effecting
alignment shall provide the buyer with a certificate of                                  Article 1 6
analysis. This certificate shall confirm that the fuel
invoiced and the fuel delivered correspond.                     This Decision shall not prevent undertakings from
                                                                aligning their prices in accordance with the last sub­
                                                                paragraph of Article 60 (2) on conditions offered by
                         Article 12                             undertakings outside the Community.
If the price list of the undertaking effecting alignment
provides for quality surcharge for certain grades of                                     Article 17
coal, while the price list of the competitor does not
provide for such surcharge or provides for a smaller            This Decision shall enter into force in the Community
surcharge for comparable grades of coal, the under­             on 1 April 1958 .
taking effecting alignment shall, in calculating the de­
livered price of the competitor, take into account the          This Decision was considered and adopted by the
quality surcharge provided for in its own price list.           High Authority at its meeting on 18 March 1958 .
                         Article 13                                                               For the High Authority
                                                                                                       The President
When delivering to consumers who would be sup­
plied through a dealer under the competitor's terms                                                     Paul FINET