No L 223/36 Official Journal of the European Communities 27. 8. 94 COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 27 July 1994 relating to a proceeding pursuant to Article 85 of the EC Treaty and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement (Case 1V/34.857 — BT-MCI) (Only the English text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (94/579/EC) 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, 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 Spain and Portugal, and in particular Articles 2, 6, and 8 thereof, Having regard to the application for negative clearance and the notification for exemption submitted, pursuant to Articles 2 and 4 of Regulation 17, as converted on 18 September 1993 from the original notification pursuant to Council Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89 of 21 December 1989 on the control of concentrations between under- takings (9, Having regard to the request made by the parties on 10 February 1994, to extend the application and notification to Article 53 of the Agreement on the European Economic Area, Having regard to the summary of the application and notification published pursuant to Article 19 (3) of Regu- lation 17 and to Article 3 of Protocol 21 of the EEA Agreement (%), After consultation with the Advisory Committee for Restrictive Practices and Dominant Positions, () OJ No 13, 21. 2. 1962, p. 204/62. (3 OJ No L 395, 30. 12. 1989, p. 1 (corrected version O] No L 257, 21. 9. 1990, p. 13). () OJ No C 93, 30. 3. 1994, p. 3. Whereas : (1) 3] I. THE FACTS A. INTRODUCTION The present case was oiriginally notified as a concentration pursuant to Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89. However, the Commission concluded that none of the transactions notified constituted a concentration. The parties were so informed by the decision of 13 September 1993. Consequently, and at the request of the parties, the notification was converted into a notification for negative clearance and/or exemption pursuant to Regulation 17. Following the entering into force of the Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA Agreement), the parties requested the Commission to extend the notification to cover also Article 53 of the EEA Agreement. Given that the notified agreements will have a relevant impact on the EFTA countries and that such impact is expected to be very similar to that the notified agreements will have on the Community, the Commission will also apply Article 53 of the EEA Agreement in the present case. The notified operation actually comprises two main transactions : (i) British Telecommunications plc (BT) is to take a 20 % stake in MCI Communications Corpo- ration (MCI), worth US$ 4,3 billion. BT will acquire new equity and will become the largest single shareholder in MCI, with proportionate