52004XX0416(01)

Final report of the Hearing Officer in case COMP/M.3083 - GE/Instrumentarium

(drawn up in accordance with Article 15 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))

(2004/C 92/04)

(Text with EEA relevance)

The draft decision gives rise to the following observations:

- The proposed concentration was notified on 28 February 2003.

- On 3 April 2003, in a decision pursuant to Article 6(1)(c) of the Merger Regulation, the Commission found that the notified concentration raised serious doubts. In line with the transparency policy which the Commission is currently pursuing, the parties received non-confidential versions of key documents provided by thrid parties.

Although the degree of precision of the documents did not fully satisfy GE, i nevertheless was able to submit comments rapidly, before a decision was taken on the sending of a statement of objections. In this context, thanks to a confidentiality agreement, the notifying party's economists also had access to data and economic analyses provided by an interested third party.

- On 4 Juli 2003, the Commission sent a statement of objections to GE. In the light of the preliminary results of the investigation, a number of elements on which the Commission had initially expressed serious doubts wre not included in the statement of objections.

During the ensuing access-to-the-file exercise, a solution to the question of the confidentiality of certain documents was found through the arrangements put in place by the Commission with the agreement of all the parties concerned. The arrangements enabled the notifying party's economists to check the economic analyses carried out by the Commission on the basis of the data communicated by third parties, subject to a confidentiality agreement.

- The parties then proposed corrective measures to the Commission; these were the subject of a market survey, whose objectivity was not called into question.

The parties did not consider it necessary to reply to the statement of objections and consequently did not request a formal hearing either.

The right of the parties to be heard has been respected fully throughout the investigation.

Done at Brussels, 14 August 2003.

(signed pp Karen Williams)

Serge Durande