17. 12. 93 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 316/41 COMMISSION DECISION of 10 December 1993 establishing that the exploitation of geographical areas for the purpose of exploring for or extracting oil or gas does not constitute in the Netherlands an activity defined in Article 2 (2) (b) (i) of Council Directive 90/531/EEC and that entities carrying on such an activity are not to be considered in the Netherlands as operating under special or exclusive rights within the meaning of Article 2 (3) (b) of the Directive ‘ (Only the Dutch text is authentic) (93/676/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Directive 90/531/EEC of 17 September 1990 on the procurement procedures of enti- ties operating in the water, energy, transport and telecom- munications sectors (*), and in particular Articles 3 (4) and 32 (4) to (7) thereof, Whereas, pursuant to Article 3 of Directive 90/531/EEC, Member States may request the Commission to provide that exploitation of geographical areas for the purpose of exploring for or extracting oil, gas, coal or other solid fuels is not to be considered to be an activity defined in Article 2 (2) (b) (i) of the Directive and that entities are not to be considered as operating under special or exclu- sive rights within the meaning of Article 2 (3) (b) by virtue of carrying on one or more of these activities, provided that a number of precise conditions are satisfied with respect to the relevant national provisions concerning such activities and that any Member State requesting such a decision ensures that entities observe the principles of non-discrimination and competitive procurement in - awarding contracts and communicates to the Commission information relating to the award of such contracts; Whereas, by letter dated 7 February 1991 from their Ministry of Economic Affairs, confirmed by letter dated 10 April 1991 from the Office of their Permanent Repre- sentative to the European Communities, the Dutch au- thorities requested the Commission to provide that exploitation of geographical areas for the purpose of exploring for or extracting oil or gas should not be con- sidered in the Netherlands to be an activity defined in Article 2 (2) (b) (i) of Directive 90/531/EEC and that enti- ties carrying on such an activity are not to be considered in the Netherlands as operating under special or exclusive rights within the meaning of Article 2 (3) (b) of the Directive ; Whereas that request was accompanied by a copy of the laws and regulations in force ; Whereas, by letter of 24 October 1991, the Office of the Dutch Permanent Representative sent the Commission a statement of how the five criteria listed in Article 3 (1) () OJ No L 297, 29. 10. 1990, p. 1. could be satisfied with respect to those laws and regulations ; Whereas additional information and documentation on the regulations or administrative provisions in force was supplied, in accordance with Article 3 (4) of the Directive, in correspondence from the Ministry of Economic Affairs dated 8 April 1992 and from the Office of the Dutch Permanent Representative dated 20 July 1992 and 6 November 1992 ; Whereas, as regards compliance with the conditions laid down in Article 3 (1) of the Directive, the Commission has carried out a detailed analysis of the rules in force in the Netherlands (the Law of 21 April 1810 on mines and quarries (Mijnwet 1810), as amended by the Mining Law of 1903 (Mijnwet 1903); the Laws of 20 June 1924 and 3 May 1967 on minerals exploration; the Law of 23 September 1965 on exploration for and extraction of minerals on the North Sea continental shelf (Mijnwet continentaalplat) ; the Decree of 27 January 1967 imple- menting Article 12 of the Mining Law and the Decree of 6 February 1976 implementing the same Article, as amended by the Decrees of 20 February 1986 and 4 July 1988 ; the Decrees of 31 March 1967 and 30 March 1976 implementing Article 3 of the Mining Law and the Decree of 9 November 1983 implementing the same Article, as amended by the Decree of 22 July 1988 ; the Decrees of 30 October 1968, 14 December 1971 and 15 October 1982 implementing Article 5 of the Mining Law ; the Decree of 7 February 1967 governing applica- tions for authorizations and exemptions under the Mining Law, as amended by the Decree of 13 February 1976 ; and documents containing additional information, used during the procedure for granting authorizations to engage in exploration or extraction (such as the ‘Declara- tion of priority for geophysical exploration’ (%), and the information distributed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs for the seventh round of authorizations (Toewij- zing 7e ronde Opsporingsvergunningen)). The findings of the analysis were communicated to the Dutch authorities by letter dated 9 October 1992, and by fax dated 1 December 1992, the main ones being set out below : — as regards offshore exploration and extraction activi- ties, the provisions of the Law of 23 September 1965 on the continental shelf satisfy the requirements of () Regeling geofysisch onderzoek ter ondersteuning van in te dienen aanvragen voor een boorvergunning.