21.6.2006 Official Journal of the European Union L 168/33 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 19 June 2006 establishing that Article 30(1) of Directive 2004/17/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council coordinating the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors applies to the production and sale of electricity in Finland, excluding the Aland Islands (notified under document number C(2006) 2337) (Only the Finnish and the Swedish texts are authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2006/422[EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Directive 2004/17/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 coordinating the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors (), and in particular Article 30(4) and (6) thereof, Having regard to the request submitted by the Republic of Finland by e-mail of 20 February 2006, and to the additional information requested by Commission staff by e-mail of 10 March 2006 and submitted by the Republic of Finland by e-mail of 23 March 2006, Having regard to the conclusions of the independent national authority, Kilpailuvirasto (the Finnish Competition Authority), () O] L 134, 30.4.2004, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 2083/2005 (O] L 333, 20.12.2005, p. 28). that the conditions for the applicability of Article 30(1) of Directive 2004/17[EC would be met, Whereas: (1)  Article 30 of Directive 2004/17/EC provides that contracts, intended to enable the performance of one of the activities to which the Directive applies, shall not be subject to the Directive if, in the Member State in which it is carried out, the activity is directly exposed to competition on markets to which access is not restricted. Direct exposure to competition is assessed on the basis of objective criteria, taking account of the specific characteristics of the sector concerned. Access is deemed to be unrestricted if the Member State has imple- mented and applied the relevant Community legislation opening a given sector or a part of it. This legislation is listed in Annex XI to Directive 2004/17EC, which, for the electricity sector, refers to Directive 96/92EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 1996 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity (?). Directive 96/92/EC has been superseded by Directive 2003/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2003 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity and repealing Directive 96/92/EC (°), which requires an even higher degree of market opening. () O] L 27, 30.1.1997, p. 20. () O] L 176, 15.7.2003, p. 37. Directive as amended by Council Directive 2004/85/EC (O] L 236, 7.7.2004, p. 10).