No L 354/66 Official Journal of the European Communities 31.12. 94 COMMISSION DECISION of 13 December 1994 relating to a proceeding under Article 85 of the EC Treaty and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement (IV/32.490 — Eurotunnel) (Only the English and French texts are authentic) - . (Text with EEA relevance) (94/894/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, Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 1017/68 of 19 July 1968 applying rules of competition to transport by rail, road and inland waterway (%), as last amended by the Act of Accession of Spain and Portugal, 'Having regard to the notice (}) published pursuant to Article 19 (3) of Regulation No 17 and Article 26 (3) of Regulation (EEC) No 1017/68, After consulting the Advisory Committees on Restrictive Practices and Dominant Positions, Whereas: 1. THE FACTS A. The notification (1)  On 2 November 1987 the Channel Tunnel Group Limited (hereinafter referred to as CTG), a company incorporated under English law, and France Manche SA (FM), a company incorporated under French law, notified a usage contract concluded on 29 July 1987 by British Railways Board (BR) and Société nationale des chemins de fer frangais (SNCF), requesting a declaration of non-applicability of the prohibition in Article 2 of Regulation (EEC) No 1017/68, in accordance with Article 5 of that Regulation. The notification was approved by all parties to the contract. {!) OJ No 13, 21. 2. 1962, p. 204/62. (3) OJ No L 175, 23. 7. 1968, p. 1. (}) OJ No C 210, 30. 7. 1994, p. 15. (2)  The Commission published a summary of the notification (*) in accordance with Article 12 (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 1017/68. (3)  The Commission then decided not to express any ' serious doubts within the period of 90 days laid down in Article 12 (3) of Regulation (EEC) No 1017/68, thus exempting the contract for three years running from the date of pubhcatlon in the Ofﬁczal Journal of the European Communities, - that is to say until 15 November 1991. This Decision renews that exemption. B. Brief descriptioh of the fixed link (4)  The fixed link comprises a twin bored rail tunnel link, with associated service tunnel, under the English Channel between Fréthun in the Pas-de-Calais and Cheriton in Kent, together with terminal areas and dedicated facilities for control of access to and egress from the tunnels, including in particular the frontier control facilities. There are crossovers between the two single track tunnels to facilitate train and shuttle movements in the reverse direction during periods of maintenance or incidents to trains, shuttles or fixed installations. (5) The signalling system is designed to a allow three-minute headways between trains and/or shuttles and shorter headways will be possible in future. The system will be capable of being upgraded to provide fully automatic train operation. (6)  The infrastructure must allow the operation of international trains between United Kingdom and Continental stations and of shuttles carrying cars, coaches, caravans and freight vehicles between Fréthun and Cheriton. (*) OJ No C 292, 16. 11. 1988, p. 2.