72/443/ECSC: Commission Decision of 22 December 1972 on alignment of prices for sales of coal in the common market

COMMISSION DECISION  of 22 December 1972  on alignment of prices for sales of coal in the common market  (72/443/ECSC)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community, and in particular Articles 60 (2) (b) and 47 thereof;
Having regard to Decision No 30-53 1 of 2 May 1953 concerning practices prohibited in the common market for coal and steel under Article 60 (1) of the Treaty;
Having regard to Decision No 3-58 2 of 18 March 1958 on alignment of prices for sales of coal in the common market;
Having regard to the Decision of the Council of the European Communities of 22 January 1972 concerning the accession of new Member States to the European Coal and Steel Community, and in particular Article 153 of the Act annexed thereto;
After consulting the Consultative Committee;
Whereas, to avoid disturbances of the common market, Decision No 3-58 restricted the right of undertakings to align prices on a price list established on another basing point and securing for the buyer the most advantageous conditions at the place of delivery;
Whereas since 1958 changes have occurred in the common market for coal ; whereas the restrictions on the right of alignment must be adapted to changed circumstances ; whereas the accession of the United Kingdom, Denmark and Ireland and its consequences for the coal market must be borne in mind;
Whereas the rules laid down by Decision No 3-58 must consequently be replaced by new provisions ; whereas, under Article 30 of the Act, this must be done in conformity with the guidelines set out in Annex II thereto;
Whereas the right to align must to this end be confined to the price lists of undertakings and selling agencies which, because of the volume and nature of production, are influential in the formation of prices in the common market ; whereas experience since 1958 has shown that this means undertakings which sell on the common market more than one million tons annually of hard coal or products obtained from hard or brown coal of their own production ; whereas, moreover, undertakings who are soon to cease production should be taken into consideration;
Whereas, furthermore, the tonnages which undertakings may supply under alignment should be limited ; whereas to avoid perceptible alterations to traditional supply channels such limitations should be defined in geographical terms and for the principal groups of products ; Whereas the exercise of the right to align presupposes that the fuels to be supplied are comparable to those in the price list on which alignment is effected;
Whereas in order to prevent illicit under-quotation, undertakings are required under Article 3 of Decision No 30-53 to have regard to all the terms of the competitor's price list when calculating the delivered price;
Whereas, in order that delivered prices may be calculated accurately, undertakings must be required to know the exact amount of the transport costs;
Whereas, to facilitate the verification of authorised alignments where shipping costs are involved, undertakings must supply the Commission with information on the costs taken into account ; whereas the Commission may publish the shipping costs used in an appropriate manner for the information of all concerned;  1OJ No 6, 4.5.1953, p. 109. 2OJ No 11, 29.3.1958, p. 157/58.
Whereas so that the scale of the transactions carried out by undertakings as a result of alignment may be assessed and so that a check may be kept as to whether this Decision is applied correctly, undertakings must be required to notify the Commission at regular intervals of the character and amount of the transactions that they carry out under alignment;