Brussels, 23/11/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has decided to close the Marathon case as regards Thyssengas GmbH after the German gas company committed itself to grant improved access to its pipeline network. The Commission's investigation, which relates to the alleged joint refusal to grant Norwegian gas producer Marathon access to continental European gas pipelines in the nineties, will continue regarding other European companies. The Marathon case concerns the alleged joint refusal to grant access to continental European gas pipelines for the Norwegian subsidiary of the US company by a group of European gas companies, amongst them Thyssengas. The 1998 Gas Directive forces companies to grant third party access to existing gas pipelines. Thyssengas, one of the companies in the case, has put forward substantial proposals aimed at rendering access to its network more effective. The commitments relate to balancing, trade in capacity rights, congestion management, transparency and handling of access requests. The commitments will be monitored by a trustee, who will regularly report to the European Commission. Commissioner Mario Monti said "Refusal to grant third party access to gas pipelines makes a farce of the European internal market and constitutes a violation of competition rules", adding, "The Marathon case clearly shows that the Commission is determined to render gas liberalisation effective and a success in Europe. The Commission will deal with all major restrictions of competition irrespective of whether the companies are located inside or outside the European Union". He hoped that "the commitments offered by Thyssengas will quickly become industry practice in Germany and also help improve the situation in certain other Member States".