29. 7. 80 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 195/35 11 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COMMISSION COMMISSION DIRECTIVE of 25 June 1980 on the transparency of financial relations between Member States and public undertakings (80/723/EEC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 90 (3) thereof, Whereas public undertakings play a substantial role in the national economy of the Member States ; Whereas the Treaty in no way prejudices the rules governing the system of property ownership in Member States and equal treatment of private and public undertakings must therefore be ensured ; Whereas the Treaty requires the Commission to ensure that Member States do not grant undertakings, public or private, aids incompatible with the common market ; Whereas, however, the complexity of the financial rela- tions between national public authorities and public undertakings tends to hinder the performance of this duty ; Whereas a fair and effective application of the aid rules in the Treaty to both public and private under- takings will be possible only if these financial rela- tions are made transparent ; Whereas such transparency applied to public under- takings should enable a clear distinction to be made between the role of the State as public authority and its role as proprietor ; Whereas Article 90 (1) confers certain obligations on the Member States in respect of public undertakings ; whereas Article 90 (3) requires the Commission to ensure that these obligations are respected, and provides it with the requisite means to this end; whereas this entails defining the conditions for achieving transparency ; Whereas it should be made clear what is to be under- stood by the terms ‘public authorities’ and ‘public undertakings’ ; Whereas public authorities may exercise a dominant influence on the behaviour of public undertakings not only where they are the proprietor or have a majority participation but also by virtue of powers they hold in management or supervisory bodies as a result either of the rules governing the undertaking or of the manner in which the shareholdings are distributed ; Whereas the provision of public funds to public under- takings may take place either directly or indirectly ; whereas transparency must be achieved irrespective of the manner in which such provision of public funds is made ; whereas it may also be necessary to ensure that adequate information is made available as regards the reasons for such provision of public funds and their actual use; Whereas Member States may through their public undertakings seek ends other than commercial ones; whereas in some cases public undertakings are compensated by the State for financial burdens assumed by them as a result; whereas transparency should also be ensured in the case of such compensa- tion;