Brussels, 03/10/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 3 October, the European Commission confirmed its authorisation for the setting up of a joint venture, Sony BMG, by Sony (Japan) and Bertelsmann (Germany). The Court of First Instance annulled the Commission's initial go-ahead for the deal in 2004 for several reasons, including the fact that the investigation by DG Competition had not looked at the impact the deal would have on digital media markets. The Commission believes it has now remedied this shortcoming. The independent record label IMPALA, however, which appealed to the Court of First Instance against the Commission's first decision, argues that the failings in the first investigation have still not been dealt with. In a press release IMPALA calls for a formal investigation into the Commission's second approval without objection of the SONY/BMG merger. IMPALA says that the examination on which the latest decision is based is neither complete nor in line with the Commission's duties under the Treaty. On the quantitative market assessment which the Court of First Instance found to be lacking in the first decision, EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes commented that the second "investigation represents one of the most thorough analyses of complex information ever undertaken by the Commission in a merger procedure," processing millions of items of data. IMPALA is focusing on a different part of its argument, namely the Commission's duty to take into account safeguarding cultural diversity across all its policies under Article 151(4) of the EC Treaty. The President of IMPALA, Patrick Zelnik, accuses the Commission of ignoring the fact that just four companies control 95% of the music listened to by most citizens on the radio throughout the world. What message did this send out to citizens, he asked. That the EU's priority to cultural diversity is just rhetoric? (cd)