Brussels, 19/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - As part of its formal investigation launched in December 2011 after a series of spot checks, the European Commission invited comments on Wednesday 19 September on the commitments offered by four international publishers - Simon & Schuster (CBS Corp., USA), Harper Collins (News Corp., USA), Hachette Livre (Lagardère Publishing, France), Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck (owner of inter alia Macmillan, Germany) - and Apple (US). The proposed commitments aim to alleviate concerns that these companies may have engaged in an anti-competitive concerted practice affecting the sale of e-books in the European Economic Area (EEA). If the market test confirms that the commitments are suitable to address the Commission's competition concerns, the Commission may make them legally binding on the companies. In the proposed commitments, the five companies offer to terminate existing agency agreements and refrain from adopting retail price-“Most Favoured Nation” (MFN) clauses for five years. MFN is an unusual clause for retail prices. The Commission considers at this stage that these companies may have breached EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive practices by jointly switching the sale of e-books from a wholesale model to agency contracts containing the same key terms. Helped by Apple, the Commission feels the companies have violated EU anti-trust rules (see EUROPE 10510). (FG/transl.fl)