Brussels, 10/06/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 10 June, the European Commission invited comments from interested parties on commitments offered by the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) to meet concerns that it may have infringed Article 81 of the EC Treaty and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement prohibiting restrictive business practices. Fears expressed by the Commission related to the ship classification market, in particular that the IACS might have prevented classification societies which are not members of the IACS from joining, from participation in IACS technical working groups and from access to technical background documents. To meet such concerns, the IACS proposed a series of commitments, including the establishment of qualitative membership criteria and guidance for their application, the possibility for non-IACS classification societies to participate in IACS working groups and full access to IACS technical resolutions and related background documents. A summary of commitments offered was published in the EU Official Journal (OJ C 131 of 10 June 2009) and the full non-confidential version of the proposed commitments is available on the Europa website, http: //ec.europa.eu/competition/antitrust/cases/decisions/39416/proposed_commitments.pdf. Parties interested have one month from the date of publication in which to submit their comments. If the result of the market test is positive, the Commission intends to adopt a decision making the commitments legally binding on IACS. (O.L./transl.jl)