L 190/22 Official Journal of the European Union 22.7.2005 COMMISSION DECISION of 9 December 2004 relating to a proceeding under Article 81 of the EC Treaty and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement (Case No C.37.533 — Choline Chloride) (notified under document number C(2004) 4717) (Only the English, French and German texts are authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2005/566EC) On 9 December 2004, the Commission adopted a decision relating to a proceeding under Article 81 of the EC Treaty and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement. In accordance with the provisions of Article 30 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 (), the Commission herewith publishes the names of the parties and the main content of the decision, including any penalties imposed, while having regard to the legitimate interest of undertakings in the protection of their business interests. A non-confidential version of the full text of the decision can be found in the authentic languages of the case and in the Commission’s working languages at DG COMP’s website at the following address: http://europa.eu.int/ commjcompetition/index_en.html I. SUMMARY OF THE INFRINGEMENT 1. Introduction This Decision is addressed to Akzo Nobel N.V., Akzo Nobel Nederland B.V., Akzo Nobel Chemical Interna- tionals B.V., Akzo Nobel Chemicals B.V. and Akzo Nobel Functional Chemicals B.V., jointly and severally (hereinafter Akzo Nobel), BASF A.G. (hereinafter BASF), Bioproducts Incorporated (hereinafter Bioproducts), Chinook Group Limited Partnership and Chinook Group Limited, jointly and severally (hereinafter Chinook), DuCoa L.P. (hereinafter DuCoa) and UCB S.A. (hereinafter UCB). The addressees participated in a single and continuous infringement of Article 81(1) of the Treaty establishing the European Community (hereinafter the EC Treaty or the Treaty) and, from 1 January 1994, Article 53(1) of the Agreement on the European Economic Area (here- inafter EEA Agreement), covering the whole of the EEA territory. The Commission initiated an investigation into the global choline chloride industry after it received a leniency application in April 1999 from the US supplier Bioproducts. The investigation covered the period from 1992 to the end of 1998 (hereafter referred to as the period of investigation). () OJ L 1, 4.1.2003, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation (EC) No 411/2004 (O] L 68, 6.3.2004, p. 1). 2. The market for choline chloride Choline chloride belongs to the B-complex group of water-soluble vitamins (vitamin B4). It is mainly used in the animal feed industry as a traditional feed additive, especially for poultry and swine, to increase growth, reduce mortality rates, increase feed efficiency, increase egg production and improve meat quality. At the start of the period of investigation, choline chloride was produced mainly in Europe and North America (United States and Canada), although there was also choline chloride production capacity in China, India, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. The North American producers were exporting to Central and South America, Europe, the Far East and South-East Asia. The European producers were starting to export to Central and South America, Africa, South-East Asia and the Far East. European and North American producers also had production facilities in different areas of the world and were expanding local production in order to cut trans- portation and storage costs and better penetrate local markets. In particular, BASF established production facilities in Mexico, Brazil and Thailand, Akzo Nobel and UCB in China, Ducoa in Mexico and Chinook in Singapore. The size of the worldwide market for choline chloride was estimated at EUR 183,7 million in 1997, the last full year of the infringement, the EEA accounting for EUR 52,6 million. During the period of investigation, the producers involved in the infringement controlled more than 80 % of the world market. The European producers concerned controlled close to 80 % of the EEA area.