Brussels, 30/04/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 30 April, the European Commission adopted a report on the application of regulation (EC) 1/2000 “on the implementation of competition rules included in Article 81 and 82 of the treaty”. The Commission points out that the text has contributed to stronger enforcement of antitrust rules within the EU since it came into force five years ago on 1 May 2004, modernising the enforcement of EC Treaty rules on restrictive business practices (Article 81) and abuse of dominant market positions (Article 82). The Regulation put an end to the previous notification system, under which companies notified agreements to the Commission for approval under the antitrust rules. The report says that this has eliminated unnecessary bureaucracy and has allowed the Commission to focus its resources on serious competition problems. The Regulation also created the European Network of Competition Authorities (ECN), within which the Commission and national competition authorities coordinate the application of EC Treaty antitrust rules. The Commission stresses that this has proved to be a successful model of cooperation, with the Commission being informed about more than 300 decisions planned across the EU based on EC Treaty antitrust rules. The report highlights a limited number of areas which merit further evaluation, such as the impact of divergences in national procedures and fining powers on the effective enforcement of the EC antitrust rules and the divergence of national laws in the area of unilateral conduct. The report can be consulted at: (http: //ec.europa.eu/competition/antitrust/legislation/regulations.html). (O.L./trans/rh)