L 7224 Official Journal of the European Union 13.3.2007 ) COMMISSION DECISION of 19 July 2006 declaring a concentration compatible with the common market and the functioning of the EEA Agreement (Case COMP/M.3796 — OMYA/J.M. HUBER PCC) (notified under document number C(2006) 3163) (Only the English version is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2007/164[EC) On 19 July 2006 the Commission adopted a Decision in a merger case pursuant to Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 of 20 January 2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings (1), and in particular Article 8(2) of that Regulation. A non-confidential version of the full Decision can be found in the authentic language of the on the website of the Directorate-General for Competition, at the following address: http://ec.europa.eu/comm/competiton/index_en.html I. SUMMARY On 4 April 2005, the Commission received a request for referral pursuant to Article 22(1) of Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (the Merger Regulation) from the Finnish Competition Authority, subsequently joined by the competent authorities of Sweden on 22 April 2005, Austria on 26 April 2005, and France on 28 April 2005, to examine the transaction. The Commission found that the proposed operation constitutes a concentration within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation and that the request met the requirements laid down in Article 22(3) of the Merger Regulation. Therefore, the Commission decided to examine the concentration and, on 18 May 2005, adopted decisions pursuant to Article 22(3) of the Merger Regulation addressed to Finland, Sweden, Austria and France to that effect. The referring Member States submitted to the Commission the docu- mentation at their disposal. This information was completed by Omya submitting a notification on 4 August 2005. The Commission opened proceedings in this case on 23 September 2005. The Commission’s statement of objections was sent to the notifying party on 2 May 2006. Omya submitted a reply on 16 May 2006. A non-confidential version of the Commission’s statement of objections was made available to two interested parties, SMI and Imerys, who submitted written comments. An oral hearing in the present case was held on 18 May 2006. () O] L 24, 29.1.2004, p. 1. () For the purpose of affording sufficient time for Omya to consider remedies an Article 10(3) decision addressed to the notifying party was adopted on 17 May 2006, which extended the deadline for submission of remedies by two working days. Following an in-depth investigation, the Commission concluded that the notified operation raises concerns as to its compatibility with the common market. In order to remove horizontal competition concerns in the market for coating calcium carbonates, Omya and JM. Huber Corporation submitted on 23 May 2006 (improved on 3 July 2006), a package of commitments to the Commission which was considered sufficient to address the competition concerns raised by this concen- tration. Therefore, it was proposed to clear the notified trans- action subject to conditions and obligations pursuant to Article 8(2) of the Merger Regulation. II. THE PARTIES AND THE OPERATION Omya AG (Omya) is a Swiss family-owned company active in the production and sale of industrial minerals (?), including calcium carbonates (?), used in a variety of industries, i.e. paper, paints, plastic, steel, glass, and agriculture. Sales to the paper industry account for a large proportion of Omya’s revenues. (® Industrial minerals include PCC (precipitated calcium carbonate), GCC (ground calcium carbonate), kaolin talc and dolomite. (}) The term ‘carbonates’ encompasses both PCC and GCC.