L 58/16 Official Journal of the European Communities 3.3.2000 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 14 September 1999 relating to a proceeding pursuant to Article 81 of the EC Treaty (Case 1V[36.213[F2 — GEAE/P & W) (notified under document number C(1999) 2901) (Only the English text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2000/182/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, Having regard to Council Regulation No 17 of 6 February 1962, First Regulation implementing Articles 85 and 86 of the Treaty (), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1216/ 1999 (3, and in particular Articles 6 and 8 thereof, Having regard to the application for negative clearance and the notification for exemption submitted, pursuant to Articles 2 and 4 of Regulation No 17, on 26 September 1996, Having published a summary of the application and noti- fication pursuant to Article 19(3) of Regulation No 17 (%), After consulting the Advisory Committee for Restrictive Prac- tices and Dominant Positions, Whereas: I. THE FACTS A. INTRODUCTION (1) On 26 September 1996, General Electric Aircraft Engines (GEAE) and Pratt & Whitney (P & W) notified three agreements to the Commission regarding the crea- () O] 13, 21.2.1962, p. 204/62. () O] L 148, 15.6.1999, p. 5. () O] C 339, 7.11.1998, p. 3. tion of a joint venture formed by the two companies, the GE-P & W Engine Alliance LLC (the Engine Alli- ance). The Engine Alliance was formed to develop, manufacture, sell and support a new aircraft engine, known as the GP7000 engine (the new engine’). The new engine is intended for future, very large commercial aircraft, namely the envisaged Airbus A3XX aircraft and possible Stretch versions of the Boeing B747-400 aircraft. There are only three full-capacity manufacturers on the market for jet engines intended for such aircraft: GEAE, P & W and Rolls-Royce plc (Rolls-Royce)). B. BACKGROUND The Engine Alliance was initially formed to develop a new jet engine for the Growth version of the B747-400 aircraft that the Boeing company (Boeing’) planned to develop, known as the Growth 747. The Growth 747 was intended to be a long-range, four-engine, aircraft with 450-550 seats, scheduled to enter into service at the end of the year 2000. The Growth 747 required a technically advanced engine with a thrust of 70 000 to 85000 Ibs fulfilling very stringent requirements regarding size, weight, noise level, emissions and oper- ating costs. None of the three engine manufacturers