19.3.2004 Official Journal of the European Union L 82/1 I (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 13 March 2001 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market and the functioning of the EEA Agreement (Case COMP/M.1915 — The Post Office/TPG/SPPL) (notified under document number C(2001) 721) (Only the English text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2004/236[EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Com- munity, Having regard to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, and in particular Article 57(2)(a) thereof, Limited (SPPL), Singapore, will acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Council Regulation joint control of two newly created joint ventures (Delta and NewCo). (3) By decision dated 15 November 2000, the Commission found that the notified operation raised serious doubts Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89 of as to its compatibility with the common market and 21 December 1989 on the control of concentrations between initiated proceedings pursuant to Article 6(1)(c) of Regu- undertakings (), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1310/ lation (EEC) No 4064/89 and Article 57(2)(a) of the 97 (3, and in particular Article 8(2) thereof, EEA Agreement. Having regard to the Commission’s decision of 15 November 2000 to initiate proceedings in this case, I. THE PARTIES’ ACTIVITIES Having given the undertakings concerned the opportunity to make known their views on the objections raised by the Commission, (4 TPO is the national postal operator in the United Kingdom. It provides the full range of postal services Having regard to the opinion of the Advisory Committee on including domestic and outbound cross-border mail as Concentrations (’), well as domestic and outbound cross-border parcels. TPO also has commercial activities, including outbound Whereas: cross-border mail services, in a wide range of other countries such as Germany, France, Netherlands and the (), On 24 July 2000 the Commission received a notifi- USA. cation of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89. The notifica- tion was completed on 10 October 2000. (5)  TPG is the national postal operator in the Netherlands. (2)  Through the notified transaction the undertakings The Post Office (TPO), United Kingdom, TNT Post Group NV (TPG), the Netherlands, and Singapore Post Private () O] L 395, 30.12.1989, p. 1; corrected version in O] L 257, 21.9.1990, p. 13. () OJL 180, 9.7.1997, p. 1. () OJ C 69, 19.3.2004. It resulted from the splitting of the former Koninklijke PTT Nederland NV (KPN) group into KPN (telecom) and TPG. TPG contains the logistics, express and mail busi- nesses of the former KPN-group. TPG is the parent company of Koninklijke PTT Post BV (PTT Post), the Dutch postal operator. TPG provides outbound cross- border mail services through PTT Post in the Nether- lands and through its TNT International Mail business in more than 45 countries including the Netherlands.