L271/28 Official Journal of the European Communities 21.10.1999 COMMISSION DECISION of 8 September 1999 relating to a proceeding under Article 81 of the EC Treaty (IV/34.010 — Nederlandse Vereniging van Banken (1991 GSA agreement), IV/33.793 — Neder- landse Postorderbond, IV[34.234 — Verenigde Nederlandse Uitgeversbedrijven and 1V/34.888 — Nederlandse Organisatie van Tijdschriften Uitgevers/Nederlandse Christelijke Radio Vereniging) (notified under document number C(1999) 2056) (Only the Dutch text is authentic) (1999/687 [EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation No 17 of 6 February 1962, the First Regulation implementing Articles 85 and 86 of the Treaty ('), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1216/ 1999 (3, and in particular Article 2 thereof, Having regard to the application for negative clearance and the notification with a view to an exemption submitted on 10 July 1991 under Articles 2 and 4 of Regulation No 17, Having regard to the complaints lodged on 21 January 1991, 7 June 1991, 13 September 1991, 10 February 1992 and 31 October 1993 under Article 3 of Regulation No 17, Having regard to the Commission Decision of 11 June 1993 to initiate proceedings in this case, Having given interested parties the opportunity of being heard on the matters to which the Commission has taken objection in accordance with Article 19(1) of Regulation No 17 in conjunction with Commission Regulation No 99/63/EEC of 25 July 1963 on the hearings provided for in Article 19(1) and (2) of Council Regulation No 17 (%), Having invited interested third parties () to submit their obser- vations in accordance with Article 19(3) of Regulation No 17 with regard to the Commission's intention to adopt a positive standpoint on the notified agreement, Having consulted the Advisory Committee on Restrictive Prac- tices and Dominant Positions, Whereas: I. THE FACTS The notification (1)  On 10 July 1991 the Nederlandse Vereniging van Banken (Dutch Association of Banks, ‘the NVB') notified, on behalf of its members, an agreement concerning the introduction of a joint payment and acceptance giro procedure (‘the GSA agreement’ or ‘the 1991 GSA agree- ment) with a request for negative clearance or for () O] 13, 21.2.1962, p. 204/62. () O] L 148, 15.6.1999, p. 5. () O] 127, 20.8.1963, p. 2268/63. (% O] C 273, 9.9.1997, p. 12. exemption under Article 81(3) of the EC Treaty (°). The acceptance giro is a payment instrument that is widely used by payees for regular payments by their customers, for example energy and telephone bills, insurance premiums and subscriptions. (2)  The notification in fact relates to an amended version of an earlier GSA agreement, the 1985 GSA agreement. The amendment concerns in particular the introduction of an interbank commission payable for the processing of acceptance giro forms and amounting to NLG 0,30 (EUR 0,14) per processed form. Under the 1991 GSA agreement the interbank commission is to be paid by the collecting party's bank (the payee bank) to the purchaser's bank (the drawee bank). The commission is intended to cover part of the cost to the drawee bank of processing acceptance giro forms. The complaints (3)  Between 1991 and 1993 the Commission received several complaints from major users of the acceptance giro system, namely from the Dutch mail order associ- ation (the Nederlandse Postorderbond) (¥), an organ- isation which promotes the interests of road users (ANWB), an umbrella organisation of mainly national charities (the Centraal Bureau Fondsenwerving), an enterprise involved in publishing periodicals and specialist journals (the Verenigde Nederlandse Uitgevers- bedrijven (VNU)) (), an organisation which promotes the interests of magazine publishers (the Nederlandse Organisatie van Tijdschriften Uitgevers (NOTU)) and a broadcasting organisation (the Nederlandse Christelijke Radio Vereniging (NCRV)) (¥). () The NVB notified the 1991 GSA agreement on behalf of its members, but it is not a party to the agreement. It signed the agreement to acknowledge that it had been apprised of the contents. (®) Complaint of 21 January 1991 (Case 1V/33.793). () Complaints of 7 June 1991, 13 September 1991 and 10 February 1992 (Case 1V/[34.234). () Joint complaint of 21 October 1993 (Case IV/34.888).