Brussels, 07/06/2006 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has cleared the proposed joint venture between Campina of the Netherlands and Fonterra of New Zealand, concluding that the transaction would not significantly impede competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or a substantial part of it. Campina is an international cooperative active in the development, production, sale and distribution of dairy and dairy-related consumer products, and advanced ingredients for the food and pharmaceutical industries. It is active world-wide. Fonterra is a New Zealand-based dairy cooperative, principally producing dairy-based branded consumer and food products and supplying dairy-based ingredients to the food manufacturing industry and pharmaceutical industry. Campina and Fonterra would combine their pharmaceutical lactose business, their business for selling edible and pharmaceutical grade lactose for fine chemical manufacture and their excipients business. Excipients are inactive substances used as carriers or diluting agents in active drug formulations, which can also be used to aid the process by which a product is manufactured. The Commission's examination showed that the proposed operation would not significantly affect competition as the horizontal overlaps between the parties' pharmaceutical lactose activities would be limited. There would be no risk either of supply problems on the market concerned, as potential and actual alternative and competing sources of supply exist for all forms of pharmaceutical lactose.