23.10.1999 Official Journal of the European Communities L2741 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 3 February 1999 relating to proceedings under Council Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89 (Case No IV/M.1221 — Rewe/Meinl) [notified under document number C(1999) 228] (Only the German text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (1999/674[EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Com- munity, Having regard to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, and in particular Article 57(2)(a) thereof, Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89 of 21 December 1989 on the control of concentrations between undertakings (), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1310/97 (%), and in particular Article 8(2) thereof, Having regard to the Commission’s decision of 28 September 1998 to initiate proceedings in this case, Having given the undertakings concerned the opportunity to make known their views on the objections raised by the Commission, Having regard to the opinion of the Advisory Committee on Concentrations (3), Whereas: (1) On 25 August 1998 REWE Internationale Beteili- gungsgesellschaft mbH and REWE-Verkaufsgesell- schaft mbH, both members of the Rewe group, notified pursuant to Article 4 of Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89 (‘the Merger Regulation’), a proposed operation within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of that Regulation whereby they were to acquire the entire share capital of Julius Meinl AG. () OJ L 395, 30.12.1989, p. 1; corrigendum, OJ L 257, 21.9.1990, p. 13. (3 OJL180,9.7.1997,p. 1. (%) OJ C306,23.10.1999. 2) On 28 September 1998 the Commission, in accord- ance with Article 6(1)(c) of the Merger Regulation and Article 57 of the EEA Agreement, decided to initiate proceedings in this case. The Advisory Committee discussed the draft of this Decision on 19 January 1999. . THE PARTIES The Rewe group (Rewe’) forms a uniformly directed group of companies consisting of Rewe-Zentralfinanz eG and Rewe Zentral AG together with their respective direct and indirect subsidiaries. Rewe’s activities com- prise the acquisition, financing and management of wholesale and retail companies, in particular compani- es in the food-retailing sector. Most of Rewe’s turnover is achieved in Germany. Rewe has been active in Austria since 1996 through its subsidiary BML (Billa). Billa operates a food-retailing chain of hypermarkets (Merkur), supermarkets (Billa), smaller self-service out- lets (Emma), discount stores (Mondo) and non- dispensing drugstores (Bipa), and is the market leader in food retailing. Julius Meinl AG (Meinl) is a trading group active almost exclusively in Austria, although a few shops are operated in Italy. The overall turnover is achieved mainly through retailing daily consumer goods. Meinl operates hypermarkets (PamPam), supermarkets (Julius Meinl and Meinl Gourmet) and discount stores (Jéé€).