Brussels, 19/07/2004 (Agence Europe) - According to a source close to the dossier, the European Commission is moving towards "unconditional approval" of the merger between the record industry giants, the Japanese Sony and the German BMG. Despite of a letter notifying its serious reservations, which was sent in May to the two groups, the Commission has revised its initial conclusions after the hearing of both parties in June (see EUROPE of 23 June). Since the in-depth inquiry was opened in February, the Commission has expressed its concerns regarding a risk of a collective dominant position resulting from this merger. The merger between the two companies will leave the European record market in the hands of four majors (Universal, Warner, EMI and Sony-BMG), and the Commission was worried that with an 80% market share, they would be able to make tacit agreements on record prices. After the Sony and BMG lawyers put forward their arguments, and doubtless warned of their intentions to bring the matter before the Court of Justice if rejected, the Commission had to conduct an internal re-evaluation of the evidence in support of its argument. Taking the view that at the very least, there should be conditions attached to any authorisation, opponents of the operation are concerned, stating that they would wait for the official decision this Tuesday to announce any recourse to the Court of Justice. According to the Financial Times, the operation will be accompanied by restructuring, which could lead to the loss of 2,000 jobs from the two companies.