European Union regulators halted an antitrust investigation into Sony and Bertelsmann AG’s 2004 deal to merge their music units after the companies failed to hand in required data, the European Commission said on Friday.
The commission said it notified the companies on their ”failure to provide requested information” to EU regulators, who launched an in-depth prove into the deal earlier this month.
”This means that the clock has stopped on this case until such time as the information is received,” the commission said in a statement.
The commission had requested additional information from Sony and BMG to assess the impact on the European music market.
The new information is required to assess the effect on rivals like Vivendi SA’s Universal Music Group, EMI Group and Warner Music Group.
The investigation into the merger was the second EU probe to be conducted after an EU court ruled last summer that authorities were wrong to have approved it in 2004.
The commission said it had been involved in an ”extremely complex data collection exercise to … satisfy the demanding requirements” of last year’s court ruling to ensure the merger does not create a situation ”to the detriment of European consumers”.
The EU’s court in Luxembourg had ordered EU regulators to examine again the merger that formed the world’s second-largest record label with artists such as Aerosmith, George Michael and Elvis Presley.
The commission had until July 2 to make a final decision to clear or block the deal, however no new deadline was set on Friday.
In its first approval, the EU’s executive arm had assumed there was no record industry monopoly because there were a variety of products on the market and no open disputes between the five main companies.
But the EU’s second-highest court found that regulators did not properly support a theory that promotional discounts ultimately prevent a joint monopoly from occurring. It also said the commission was wrong to rely on the absence of evidence that record companies had used retaliatory measures in the past. – Sapa-AP