L 1/10 Official Journal of the European Communities 3.1. 98 COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 26 November 1997 relating to a proceeding pursuant to Article 65 of the ECSC Treaty (Case IV/36.069 Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahl) (Only the German text is authentic) (98/4/ECSC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community, and in particular Article 65 thereof, Having regard to the notification submitted on 28 May 1996 in the name of the Wirtschaftsvereinigung and 16 of its members, Having regard to the information transmitted to the Commission pursuant to Article 47 of the ECSC Treaty on 24 September 1996, Having regard to the written comments submitted pursuant to Article 36 of the ECSC Treaty in the name and on behalf of the parties on 29 April 1997 and taking note of the fact that, by letter dated 12 May 1997, the parties formally waived their right to submit oral comments, Whereas: I. FACTS A. PROCEDURE (1) On 28 May 1996 an information exchange system was notified to the Commission in the name and on behalf of the Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahl, the German steel industry trade association, and 16 of its members. A warning letter was sent to the association on 8 July 1996. In view of the extremely brief nature of the notification and following a meeting with the parties on 31 July, a request for information was sent to them pursuant to Article 47 of the ECSC Treaty. Following analysis of the reply comprising, among other things, all the questionnaires 2-71, 2-72, 2-73 and 2-74 for the 16 undertakings concerned and the past four years, the Commission sent a statement of objections to the parties on 4 March 1997. The parties submitted their comments on 29 April 1997. While they did not in any way dispute the facts as set out in the statement of objections and recounted below, they stated that, in their view, those facts did not constitute an infringement of the competition rules. B. THE PARTIES (2)  The notification was submitted in the name of 16 German steel producers and that of the trade asso- ciation to which they belong, the Wirtschaftsver- einigung Stahl (). (3)  The Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahl (hereinafter called the WV) is an association bringing together almost every German steel undertaking and a number of Belgian and Luxembourg associate members. Its object is to defend its members’ collective in- terests. Its functions include keeping its members informed of new developments and representing them before national and Community authorities. The WV is a member of Eurofer, an association of Community steel undertakings and of national associations of European steel undertakings. (4)  The 16 notifying undertakings belong to six sep- arate groups, namely: Usinor, Cockerill-Sambre, Preussag, Arbed, Thyssen and Krupp. (") The names of the 16 notifying undertakings appear in bold type.