6. 1. 87 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 3/17 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION " of 2 December 1986 relating to a proceeding under Article 85 of the EEC Treaty (IV/31.128 — Fatty Acids) (Only the Dutch, French and German texts are authentic) (87/1/EEC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, 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 the Act of Accession of Spain and Portugal, and in particular Articles 3 (1) and 15 (2) thereof, Having regard to the Commission Decision of 15 January 1986 to initiate proceedings in this case, Having given the undertakings concerned, Unilever NV, Henkel KGaA and Oleofina SA, the opportunity to make known their views on the objections raised by the Commission, pursuant to Article 19 (1) of Regulation No 17 and Commission Regulation No 99/63/EEC of 25 July 1963 on the hearings provided for in Article 19 (1) and (2) of Council Regulation No 17 (3, After consulting the Advisory Committee on Restrictive Practices and Dominant Positions, Whereas : 1. THE FACTS Nature of the case (1)  The present proceedings concern the application of Article 85 of the EEC Treaty to an agreement concluded in September 1979 by the four (now () OJ No 13, 21. 2. 1962, p. 204/62. () OJ No 127, 20. 8. 1963, p. 2268/63. A @ ) three) major producers in the EEC of the oleoche- micals oleine and stearine. The parties to the agreement, after first having esta- blished their respective average market shares over the preceding three-year period, set out subse- quently . to exchange information of a kind normally regarded as business secrets regarding their total sales of the products concerned in Europe in each quarter, thereby providing each party with the means to monitor the activities of its major competitors and adjust its own behaviour accordingly. The agreement was terminated at the end of 1982 upon the Commission’s suggestion, after an investigation had been carried out. The undertakings The undertakings party to the agreement are the three major EEC producers of oleine and stearine, namely: the Unichema division of Unilever, Henkel & Co KGaA and Oleofina SA, a wholly controlled subsidiary of Petrofina SA. Hereinafter the undertakings will be referred to as Unichema, Henkel and Oleofina respectively. The fourth party to the agreement, Unilever-Emry, was a joint subsidiary of Unilever and the US producer Emery Industries. It was originally operated as a separate concern from Unichema but in 1980 was integrated into the Unichema opera- tion. The parties to the agreement are all important, well-known groups or undertakings with multiple activities throughout the Community and the rest of the world.