Brussels, 26/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has decided to open two formal anti-trust proceedings, one against Electrabel, which is the incumbent electricity company in Belgium, and one against EDF, the incumbent electricity supplier in France, for possible breaches of the EC Treaty's rules on abuse of a dominant market position (Article 82). The Commission believes that Electrabel and EDF may have introduced long term exclusive purchase obligations in their supply contracts with industrial consumers that make it difficult for new entrant electricity suppliers to acquire these consumers as clients in Belgium and France. Neither Electrabel (in which the French company Suez has been the major shareholder since 2003) nor EDF made any comment on the investigation, other than to say that they would cooperate with the Commission. The Commission decision derives from the outcome of the sectoral investigation on energy, published in January (see EUROPE 9341) and the arguments put forward in the 2006 investigation into Distrigas (see EUROPE 9193). (cd)