Brussels, 06/06/2003 (Agence Europe) - As anticipated, the European Commission has opened a detailed enquiry into the acquisition of Vivendi Universal Publishing (VUP) by Lagardère. They are concerned about the fall-out of such an operation, which will combine the two market leaders in French-language publishing (Lagardère's subsidiary, Hachette Livre, is second behind VUP) on several markets. The preliminary enquiry found that the company created would dominate markets the length of the "book chain", the circuit from author to reader, which includes the editor, distribution and sale, wholesale and retail. Lagardère and VUP both perform all these functions in the French-speaking countries of the EU, via many publishing houses and their sales, distribution and logistics arms. At this stage, the Commission has identified three main markets where the merger could cause serious competition problems: the purchase and sale of publishing rights, distribution and sales, and the sales of books by publishers to retailers. The detailed enquiry will give it another four months to look more closely at whether this could reduce competition on the markets, with negatives consequences for retailers and private consumers in terms of quality, variety and prices. It is worth noting that France had asked the Commission to refer this dossier to it, as it felt the operation could create or reinforce a dominant position on several publishing-related markets, all of national dimensions. The Commission's decision to open a detailed enquiry is likely to mean that if it does refer the dossier, it will refer only that part which relates to France. The European Executive is to notify all parties of its grievances during the month of July. Lagardère and the third parties will then have their say, plus the opportunity to put compromises to the Commission, which has until 9 October to return a definitive decision.