18. 1. 89 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 14/37 COMMISSION DECISION of 19 December 1988 authorizing the concentration between Eschweiler - Bergwerks-Verein Aktiengesellschaft, Herzogenrath, and Ruhrkohle Aktiengesellschaft, Essen (Only the French and German texts are authentic) (89/29/ECSC) "THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, 'Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community, and in particular Articles 65 and 66 thereof, "Having regard to Decision No 24/54 of 6 May 1954 laying down in implementation of Article 66 (1) of the Treaty a Regulation on what constitutes control of an ‘ undertaking ('), " Having regard to the application submitted jointly on 28 March 1988 by Ruhrkohle Aktiengesellschaft, Essen and Eschweiler Bergwerks-Verein Aktiengesellschaft, Herzogenrath, seeking authorization for the concentration of the two undertakings, Having obtained the comments of the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany, Whereas : (1)  Ruhrkohle  Aktiengesellschaft (RAG) is a coal-producing undertaking within the meaning of Article 80 of the Treaty ; it was established in 1969 when 23 undertakings operating in the Ruhr coalfield in the Federal Republic of Germany . combined their mining assets and transferred them to it(?). After numerous changes in the interests held, the following undertakings currently hold - shares in RAG’s share capital : — VEBA Aktiengesellschaft Bonn/Berlin 37,103 % — BGE — Beteiligungs-Gesellschaft fiir Energieunternehmen, Dortmund 21,735 % — Thyssen Stahl AG, Duisburg 12,69 %. — Montan, Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Dortmund 10 % — Société Nouvelle Sidéchar, Paris 8,255 % — Gewerkschaft Alte Haase, Dortmund 0,217 % — Verwaltungsgesellschaft Ruhrkohle-Beteiligung mbH, Essen 10 % (') OJ of the ECSC No 9, 11. 5. 1954, p. 345. (}) Commission Decision of 27 November 1969. @ A RAG produced 58 100 000 tonnes in 1987, making it the second largest coal producer in the Community after British Coal. Total sales in 1987 (with coke converted into coal) amounted to 56 800 000 tonnes, equivalent to 18 % of the sales of all suppliers of coal and coal products in the common market (320 million tonnes). Of this figure, 51 400 000 tonnes were accounted for by sales in the Federal Republic of Germany, 4 900 000 tonnes by sales to Community countries and 500 000 tonnes by exports to non-Community countries. RAG’s sales in the Federal Republic amount to some 73 % of the total sales of all indigenous coalfields in the Federal Republic. Eschweiler Bergwerks-Verein  Aktiengesellschaft (EBV) is also a coal-producing undertaking within the meaning of Article 80 of the Treaty, 96,5 % of whose share capital is held by Arbed SA, Luxembourg. The Arbed group controls a number of steel-producing undertakings in the Community whose supplies of coking coal and blast-furnace coke are largely provided by EBV’s mining operations in the Aachen and Ruhr coalfields. \ The merger is based on economic, technical and industrial policy considerations which may be summarized as follows: the level of production costs, a continuing decline in demand for coal and coal products in the Community and on non-Com- munity markets, the technical impossibility of closing mines for only temporary periods and the need in present circumstances for public subsidizing of production will in the near future result in appropriate closure measures. in the German coal mining industry. At a meeting (Kohlenrunde) held on 11 December 1987 between the Federal Government, the Governments of the Federal Linder of North Rhine-Westphalia and Saarland, the mining undertakings and the Mining and Power Industries Trade Union, it was proposed that the production capacity of the German coal - mining industry should be reduced by the order of 13 to 15 million tonnes a year to take account of the decline in sales. It is intended to carry out the