No L 376/30 Official Journal of the European Communities 31.12.83 COMMISSION DECISION of 12 December 1983 relating to a proceeding under Article 85 of the EEC Treaty (IV/30.525 — International Energy Agency) (Only the English, French and German texts are authentic) (83/671/EEC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the Euro- pean Economic Community, Having regard to Council Regulation No 17 of 6 February 1962, First Regulation implementing Articles 85 and 86 of the Treaty (!), as last amended by the Act of Accession of Greece, and in particular Articles 4, 6 and 8 thereof, Having regard to the notification and application for negative clearance submitted to the Commission on 5 January 1982 by the Chairman of the Industry Advisory Board of the International Energy Agency for the benefit of 32 oil companies which might be asked to participate in the carrying out of the Inter- national Energy Program in the event of its activa- tion, Having regard to the publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities (2) of the sum- mary of the notification pursuant to Article 19 (3) of Regulation No 17, After consultation with the Advisory Committee on Restrictive Practices and Dominant Positions, Whereas: I. THE FACTS (1) An agreement on an International Energy Program (hereinafter referred to as the IEP) was signed on 18 November 1974. Twenty- one countries, members of the OECD, now participate in the IEP. Nine Member States of the European Economic Community have signed the 1EP, France being a non-signatory. The Community has not signed the IEP and the Commission has the status of observer with the International Energy Agency (here- (") OJ No 13,21. 2. 1962, p. 204/62. () OJ No C 199, 26. 7. 1983, p. 2. (2) () inafter referred to as the IEA) an autonomous agency of OECD, responsible for carrying out the IEP. The Community has adopted measures aimed at regulating oil supply short- falls at the Community level, which comple- ment those adopted by the IEA. The objectives of the IEP as set out in its preamble are to take common effective measures to meet oil supply emergencies by developing an emergency self-sufficiency in oil supplies, restraining demand and allocat- ing available oil among the participating countries on an equitable basis. A principle of solidarity has been established between the participating countries to ensure that the effects of supply cuts are evened out between them and that no country or group of coun- tries will suffer disproportionately the conse- quences of supply disruptions, all as set out in the IEP. The IEP provides that the allocation process may be activated when one or more partici- pating countries, or all the participating coun- tries as a group, sustain a reduction of 7 % or more in the expected daily rate of oil supplies. Any reduction in the daily rate of oil supplies is likely to affect the participating countries differently. Some countries possess a large refinery capacity and thus mainly import crude oil, while other countries mainly import refined products. Some countries import only from one source, others from various sources or even have indigenous production. A coun- try might be the subject to some form of embargo which might hamper the usual flow of oil to that country. Because of these differences it would be necessary to find out in what degree the parti- cipating countries are affected by the supply disruptions, in order to establish which would have oil and/or products to share with other countries, and which would be entitled to receive oil. Each country’s supply rights under the IEP would have to be established.