78/24/EEC: Commission Decision of 8 December 1977 concerning an investigation to be made at the Vereinigung deutscher Freiformschmieden, Düsseldorf, pursuant to Article 14 (3) of Council Regulation No 17 (Case IV AF 356) (Only the German text is authentic)

COMMISSION DECISION  of 8 December 1977  concerning an investigation to be made at the Vereinigung deutscher Freiformschmieden, D端sseldorf, pursuant to Article 14 (3) of Council Regulation No 17  (Case IV AF 356)  (Only the German text is authentic)  (78/24/EEC)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 85 thereof,
Having regard to Council Regulation No 17 of 6 February 1962 (1), and in particular Article 14 (3) thereof,
Having consulted the Federal Cartel Office, Berlin, being the competent authority for the purpose of Article 14 (4) of Regulation No 17,
Whereas:
There are sufficient grounds for suspecting that agreements for the maintenance of local prices and for restricting interpenetration are being applied on the common market for heavy forgings weighing over four tonnes. Such agreements and restrictions are contrary to Article 85 of the EEC Treaty, as is the contract-sharing which is also suspected.
In order to ascertain the facts the Director-General for Competition gave orders on 14 January 1977 that investigations should be made at several undertakings and associations of undertakings pursuant to Article 14 of Regulation No 17.
The checks which were due to be carried out on 18 January 1977 at the Vereinigung deutscher Freiformschmieden (hereinafter called "the Union"), in the presence of a representative of the competent German authorities, could not be carried out because the Union refused to submit to the investigation unless they were authorized by a Decision of the Commission of the European Communities.
A Decision must therefore be adopted requiring the Union to submit to the investigation and in particular to allow the requisite business records to be examined.
Articles 15 (1) (c) and 16 (1) (d) of Regulation No 17, the full texts of which are annexed to this Decision, empower the Commission by decision to take action against undertakings by:    (a) imposing fines where undertakings intentionally or negligently produce the required books or other business records in incomplete form during investigations under Article 14, or refuse to submit to an investigation ordered by decision pursuant to Article 14 (3);
(b) imposing periodic penalty payments calculated daily from the day appointed by the Decision, in order to compel them to submit to an investigation which it has ordered by decision pursuant to Article 14 (3),