The European Commission does not hold any evidence over CD price-fixing on the European market, the commission's competition spokeswoman Ms Amelia Torres said today.
The commission has sent out letter to the CD market's five market leaders - EMI Group PLC, Bertelsmann AG 's music unit, Sony Corp, Time Warner, Universal - as well as to 13 traditional CD retailers and five online retailers requesting them for information about their CD retail price practices, she said.
"The probe is in its very early stages. It is not a formal investigation. We have no evidence that the companies are guilty of anti-competitive practices in Europe," she said.
The commission will have to study this information before it can decide on sending out a statement of objections to the concerned companies or dropping the probe altogether.
The probe was not triggered by complaints, but from the considerable knowledge the commission gained during its investigation into the Time Warner, EMI joint venture and from a similar US investigation against the five music giants held in the US last year, she said.