导读：欧盟日前开始针对三家乙醇生产商涉嫌操纵价格报告机构发布的乙醇基准价格展开正式调查。负责竞争政策委员Margrethe Vestage称，竞争的生物燃料市场对促进更加清洁的运输以及减少排放温室气体是十分重要的；这是委员会限制温室气体排放及推动可再生能源发展策略的重要组成。以下是英文原文：
The European Commission has opened aformal antitrust investigation to scrutinise whether three ethanol producers have, in breach of EU antitrust rules, manipulated ethanol benchmarks published by a price reporting agency.
The companies concerned are Abengoa S.A.of Spain, Alcogroup SA of Belgium and Lantmännen ek för of Sweden, together with their relevant subsidiaries. They produce, distribute and trade ethanol.
Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, incharge of competition policy, stated:"Competitive biofuels markets are crucial to promote cleaner transport and to cut greenhouse gas emissions. This is an important element of the Commission's ambitious strategy to limit greenhouse gas emissions and to boost renewable energies."
Ethanol is an alcohol made from biomass(such as wheat, maize or sugar beet) that is mainly added to gasoline and usedas a biofuel for certain motor vehicles. The Commission has concerns that these companies may have colluded to manipulate ethanol benchmarks published by theprice reporting agency Platts, for example by agreeing between them to submitor support bids with a view to influencing benchmarks upwards and thus driving up ethanol prices. Such practices, if confirmed, harm competition and undermine EU energy objectives by increasing prices for renewable energy, namely biofuel sused for transport. This could lead to a reduction of the use of biofuels as analternative to fossil fuels, with negative consequences both for consumers and the environment.
The prices assessed and published by price reporting agencies such as Platts serve as benchmarks for trade in the physical markets and in the financial derivative markets for a number of commodity products both in Europe and worldwide. In 2013, the Commission proposed aRegulation to enhance the governance, integrity and reliability of benchmarksused in financial instruments and contracts. This Regulation is at the final stage of adoption by the Council and European Parliament.
The Commission will now conduct anin-depth investigation as a matter of priority. The opening of formal proceedings does not prejudge the outcome of the investigation.
Background
The Commission's investigation started with unannounced inspections carried out in May 2013. Further inspections werecarried out in October 2014 and March 2015.
Article 101 of the Treaty on theFunctioning of the European Union (TFEU) prohibits anticompetitive agreements and concerted practices. The implementation of this provision is defined in theEU Antitrust Regulation (Council Regulation No 1/2003), which can also be applied by national competition authorities.
The initiation of proceedings by the Commission relieves the competition authorities of the Member States of their competence to apply EU competition rules to the practices concerned.
The Commission has informed the companies concerned and the competition authorities of the Member States thatit has opened proceedings in this case.
There is no legal deadline for bringing an antitrust investigation to an end. The duration of an investigation depends on a number of factors, including the complexity of the case, the cooperation of the undertakings with the Commission and the exercise of the rights ofdefence.
In a separate investigation, the Commission is also assessing whether producers or traders of bioethanol have fixed prices or shared markets and customers, in violation of Article 101 TFEU.
More information on the investigation will be available on the Commission's competition website, in the public case register under the case number AT.40054.
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The European Commission has opened aformal antitrust investigation to scrutinise whether three ethanol producers have, in breach of EU antitrust rules, manipulated ethanol benchmarks published by a price reporting agency.
The companies concerned are Abengoa S.A.of Spain, Alcogroup SA of Belgium and Lantmännen ek för of Sweden, together with their relevant subsidiaries. They produce, distribute and trade ethanol.
Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, incharge of competition policy, stated:"Competitive biofuels markets are crucial to promote cleaner transport and to cut greenhouse gas emissions. This is an important element of the Commission's ambitious strategy to limit greenhouse gas emissions and to boost renewable energies."
Ethanol is an alcohol made from biomass(such as wheat, maize or sugar beet) that is mainly added to gasoline and usedas a biofuel for certain motor vehicles. The Commission has concerns that these companies may have colluded to manipulate ethanol benchmarks published by theprice reporting agency Platts, for example by agreeing between them to submitor support bids with a view to influencing benchmarks upwards and thus driving up ethanol prices. Such practices, if confirmed, harm competition and undermine EU energy objectives by increasing prices for renewable energy, namely biofuel sused for transport. This could lead to a reduction of the use of biofuels as analternative to fossil fuels, with negative consequences both for consumers and the environment.
The prices assessed and published by price reporting agencies such as Platts serve as benchmarks for trade in the physical markets and in the financial derivative markets for a number of commodity products both in Europe and worldwide. In 2013, the Commission proposed aRegulation to enhance the governance, integrity and reliability of benchmarksused in financial instruments and contracts. This Regulation is at the final stage of adoption by the Council and European Parliament.
The Commission will now conduct anin-depth investigation as a matter of priority. The opening of formal proceedings does not prejudge the outcome of the investigation.
Background
The Commission's investigation started with unannounced inspections carried out in May 2013. Further inspections werecarried out in October 2014 and March 2015.
Article 101 of the Treaty on theFunctioning of the European Union (TFEU) prohibits anticompetitive agreements and concerted practices. The implementation of this provision is defined in theEU Antitrust Regulation (Council Regulation No 1/2003), which can also be applied by national competition authorities.
The initiation of proceedings by the Commission relieves the competition authorities of the Member States of their competence to apply EU competition rules to the practices concerned.
The Commission has informed the companies concerned and the competition authorities of the Member States thatit has opened proceedings in this case.
There is no legal deadline for bringing an antitrust investigation to an end. The duration of an investigation depends on a number of factors, including the complexity of the case, the cooperation of the undertakings with the Commission and the exercise of the rights ofdefence.
In a separate investigation, the Commission is also assessing whether producers or traders of bioethanol have fixed prices or shared markets and customers, in violation of Article 101 TFEU.
More information on the investigation will be available on the Commission's competition website, in the public case register under the case number AT.40054.
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