49Subject to the obligation of professional secrecy to which each Commissioner is bound under Article 214 of the EC Treaty (now Article 287 EC), the expression of an opinion by the Commissioner responsible for competition matters on a procedure in progress pursuant to Article 90(3) of the EC Treaty, is, in so far as it is strictly personal and without prejudice, attributable to that Commissioner alone and does not predetermine the position that the College of Members of the Commission will adopt at the end of the procedure. Under Article 163 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 219 EC), the operation of the Commission is governed by the principle of collegiality. That principle is based on the equal participation of the Commissioners in the adoption of decisions, from which it follows in particular that decisions should be the subject of collective deliberation (Case 5/85 AKZO Chemie v Commission [1986] ECR 2585, paragraph 30; and Case C-137/92 P Commission v BASF and Others [1994] ECR I-2555, paragraph 63).
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