22.6.2005 Official Journal of the European Union L 159/13 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COMMISSION DECISION of 6 October 2004 declaring a concentration compatible with the common market and the EEA Agreement (Case COMP/M.3431 — Sonoco/Ahlstrom) (notified under document number C(2004) 3678) (Only the English text is authentic) (2005/452[EC) On 7 January 2004 the Commission adopted a Decision in a merger case under Council Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89 of 21 December 1989 on the control of concentrations between undertakings (1), and in particular Article 8(2) of that Regulation. A non-confidential version of the full Decision can be found in the authentic language of the case and in the working languages of the Commission on the website of the Directorate-General for Competition, at the following address: http://europa.eu.int/comm/ competition/index_en.html . OVERVIEW cularly in regard to its bad geographic location and the o viability of the divested business. Since this remedy did (1) The US-based company Sonoco and the Finnish under- therefore not clearly remove the serious doubts at this taking Ahlstrom notified to the Commission their intention to create a joint venture to which they planned to contribute their respective European coreboard and cores businesses. Cores are tubes produced from coreboard. They are normally used as the base around which various products, such as paper, film and yarn are wound. The investigation identified serious concerns in the markets for high-end paper mill cores and low-value cores in some regions of northern Europe. The parties submitted remedies to address these concerns in the first phase. They proposed to divest the Sveberg plant in Norway, which produces both affected products. The remedy removes, almost completely, the increment in market shares caused by the merger. However, the market test conducted in the first phase revealed that market participants had concerns about the remedy parti- (*) OJ L 395, 30.12.1989, p. 1. Regulation last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1310/97 (O] L 180, 9.7.1997, p. 1). stage, the Commission opened second phase proceedings on 5 July 2004. During the second phase the parties were able remove the concerns as to the location of the Sveberg plant by submitting convincing evidence on transportation costs. In addition, they offered a ‘fix-it-first' solution so that the Commission could ensure that a suitable buyer is found before the parties could complete their deal. This measure ensured the viability of the business. This was confirmed by the second market test. II. THE RELEVANT PRODUCT MARKETS Coreboard is a paper/board material used primarily for manufacturing paper cores. The key characteristic of coreboard is its ability to resist delamination, which is measured in Joules per square meter (J/m?). There is only a limited degree of demand-side and supply-side substi- tutability. The high-grade (delamination resistance >375 JJm?) producers can easily switch production to low- grade (delamination resistance <375 J/m?), low-grade