18.2.2011 Official Journal of the European Union L 45/33 COMMISSION DECISION of 28 October 2009 on the State aid C 16/08 (ex NN 105/05 and NN 35/07) implemented by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — Subsidies to CalMac and NorthLink for maritime transport services in Scotland (notified under document C(2009) 8117) (Only the English text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2011/98/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular the first subparagraph of Article 88(2) thereof, Having regard to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, and in particular Article 62(1)(a) thereof, Having called on interested parties to submit their comments pursuant to the provision(s) cited above (') and having regard to their comments, Whereas: ©) 1. PROCEDURE By letter of 19 December 2003, the United Kingdom informed the Commission of the steps that the Scottish Executive intended to take in order to bring Scottish ferry services ‘into line with [their] understanding of the European rules in relation to maritime State aids’. By letters of 19 April and 30 June 2004, the United Kingdom informed the Commission of the intention of the Scottish Executive to carry out two public tenders for contracts to provide transport services to the northern and western islands. The Commission has since received several formal complaints and informal comments from interested parties regarding alleged incompatible State aid granted to the undertakings which operate those transport services (2). Following these complaints, the Commission sent several requests for further information to the United Kingdom pursuant to Article 5 of Council Regulation (EC) No 659/1999 of 22 March 1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Article 93 (now Article 88) of the EC Treaty () (hereinafter ‘the Procedural Regu- lation’) to which answers were provided. On 16 April 2008 the Commission decided to initiate the formal investigation procedure regarding State aid () OJ C 126, 23.5.2008, p. 16. (%) Leading to the creation of two cases with references NN 105/05 and NN 35/07. () O] L 83, 27.3.1999, p. 1. (10) (11) measures related to NorthLink Ferries Limited, Cowal Ferries Limited and CalMac Ferries Limited (*). On 16 July 2008 the United Kingdom sent its obser- vations in reply to the decision to initiate the formal investigation procedure. By letters of 22 December 2008 and 2 February 2009 the United Kingdom provided additional information. The Commission received comments from several interested parties following the publication of the decision to initiate the formal investigation procedure. The United Kingdom was invited to respond to those comments. On 11, 12 and 13 December 2008, the Commission met with representatives of several interested parties: NorthLink Ferries Limited, Cowal Ferries Limited, CalMac Ferries Limited, Pentland Ferries, Western Ferries (Clyde) Limited, Orkney County Council, Argyll and Bute Council, Inverclyde Council, Scottish Ministers and Scottish Executive and Peer Pressure Group. On the basis of the additional information received during the formal investigation procedure, the Commission concluded that part of the scheme constituted existing aid. It therefore decided to initiate, in parallel to the formal investigation procedure, the cooperation procedure foreseen pursuant to Article 17 of the Procedural Regulation. On 17 March 2009 the Commission met with represen- tatives of the United Kingdom. In this meeting, in accordance with Article 17 of the Procedural Regulation the Commission informed the Member State that it considered part of the scheme to constitute existing aid and expressed its preliminary view that some aspects of the scheme were no longer compatible with the common market. The Member State’s authorities were given the opportunity to submit their comments on this preliminary view both at the meeting and later in written form. On 23 March 2009, the Commission requested addi- tional information from the United Kingdom. That information was provided on 15 May and 3 July 2009. (*) See footnote 1.