Brussels, 02/06/2010 (Agence Europe) - Following a complaint lodged by Germany's Siemens AG, the European Commission decided on Wednesday 2 June to open proceedings to investigate whether non-competitive clauses between French company Areva and German company Siemens in the field of civil nuclear technology violate EU competition rules. The non-competition clauses in question cover the period following Areva's acquisition last year of the joint venture Areva NP, set up by Areva (then called Framatome SA) and Siemens AG in 2000, the creation of which was authorised by the Commission after a detailed investigation. The Commission must now decide whether the non-competition rules and other contractual restrictions violate the EU's competition rules set out in Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union and Articles 53 and 54 of the EEA Agreement.
A Commission spokesperson said that the opening of the investigation meant that the case merited investigation and did not suggest that the Commission has evidence of any infringement. The likely duration of the investigation is not yet known. The spokesperson added that the opening of the investigation was a procedural matter signifying that the case would be dealt with by the Commission rather than national competition authorities under Article 11, paragraph 6 of EU Regulation 1/2003 stipulating whether competition cases are to be examined by the member states or the European Commission. (F.G./transl.fl)