21.6.2001 Official Journal of the European Communities L 166/1 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 20 April 2001 relating to a proceeding pursuant to Article 82 of the EC Treaty (Case COMP D3[34493 — DSD) (notified under document number C(2001) 1106) (Only the German text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2001/463EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, and in particular Article 54 thereof, Having regard to Council Regulation No 17 of 6 February 1962, first Regulation implementing Articles 85 and 86 of the Treaty (1), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1216/1999 of 10 June 1999 (%), and in particular Article 3 thereof, Having regard to the Commission decision of 25 October 1996 to initiate proceedings in this case, Having given the firm concerned the opportunity to make known its views on the objections raised by the Commission in accordance with Article 19 of Regulation No 17 and Article 2 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 2842/98 of 22 December 1998 on the hearing of parties in certain proceedings under Articles 85 and 86 of the EC Treaty (3), After consulting the Advisory Committee on Restrictive Practices and Dominant Positions on 19 February 2001, () 0] 13, 21.2.1962, p. 204/62. () OJ L 148, 15.6.1999, p. 5. () OJ L 354, 30.12.1998, p. 18. Whereas: A. THE FACTS I. THE PROCEEDING, AND THE FIRMS CONCERNED (), On 2 September 1992 Der Griine Punkt — Duales System Deutschland AG (hereinafter: ‘DSD’), in Cologne, notified a number of agreements with a view to obtaining negative clearance or a decision granting exemption from the prohibition on restrictive practices. DSD operates in Germany a countrywide system for the collection and recovery of sales packaging. The system is designed to meet the requirements of the German Packaging Ordinance. The notification concerns those agreements (the Statutes, the Service Agreement, the Trade Mark Agreement and the Guarantee Agreements) on which operation of the system is based. (2)  Following publication of the notification pursuant to Article 19(3) of Regulation No 17, in which the Commission announced its intention of taking a favourable view of the agreements in question, 13 sets of observations in all were received from interested third parties (¥). Several of these sets of observations concerned various aspects of the application of the Trade Mark Agreement. It was thus objected that the () 0J C 100, 27.3.1997, p. 4.