3. 5. 86 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 115/19 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 21 March 1986 authorizing agreements made in relation to the activities of the Northern Ireland Coal Importers’ Association (NICIA) (86/152/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 application filed on 7 April 1982 and the revised applications filed on 8 November 1982 and 10 February 1984 by the Northern Ireland Coal Importers’ Association (NICIA), Whereas : I. FACTS 1. The Northern Ireland Coal Importers’ Association (NICIA) was founded in 1937 by 34 Northern Irish coal importers. Until 1958 the Association, among its other activities, also used to agree the prices to be charged for coal in Northern Ireland. In that year, however, the Association gave an undertaking to the Restrictive Trade Practices Court in Belfast to discontinue this practice, and since then it has played no further part in the prices at which its members sell to their customers. The Commission first heard of NICIA when the Northern Ireland Consumer Council wrote to it on 16 October 1981 requesting the Commission to investigate competitive conditions on the domestic coal market in Norther Ireland. 2. The application filed on 7 April 1982, the annexed rules and regulations and a memorandum explain- ing various agreements between the members revealed, inter alia, the following facts: (a) NICIA’s members are coal wholesalers in Northern Ireland who purchase domestic solid fuels for sale in Northern Ireland directly from the British National Coal Board or other produ- cers or who used to do so but are now obliged for reasons connected with the logistics of transporting coal to Northern Ireland to purchase their requirements from importing members. The Association has 32 members, of which 22 are direct importers and 10 non-importing. (b) Applicants for membership must be proposed and seconded by existing members and elected by the Association’s Council, for which a two- thirds majority is required. As the two largest members, the Belfast groups Cawoods (headed by Cawoods Fuels (NI) Limited) and Kellys (headed by John Kelly Limited), have four votes each of the 13 votes on the Council, with the other members having only five votes between them, a new member can only be elected with the support of one of the members with four votes. () On 10 December 1980 Cawoods and Kellys entered into bulk buying contracts for house coal covering the period 1 November 1980 to 31 March 1984 with the National Coal Board, under which they agreed to purchase almost all their requirements of domestic bituminous coal and smokeless fuels including Phurnacite from