9. 6. 98 Official Journal of the European Communities L 164/37 COMMISSION DECISION of 1 October 1997 concerning alleged State aid granted by France to SFMI-Chronopost (notified under document number C(1997) 3146) (Only the French text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (98/365/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular the first subparagraph of Article 93(2) thereof, Having regard to the Agreement establishing the Euro- pean Economic Area, and in particular of Article 62(1)(a) thereof, Having, in accordance with the provisions of the above- mentioned Articles, given notice to the parties concerned to submit their comments and having regard to those comments, Whereas: I. THE FACTS A. Background In France express delivery service is an activity open to unrestricted competition, unlike the ordinary postal service, which is subject to the monopoly of the French Post Office. The French Post Office belonged to the French public administration until the end of 1990. On 1 January 1991, pursuant to the provisions of Law No 90-568 of 2 July 1990, it became an autonomous corporation subject to French public law, and as such is free to operate in sectors open to competition, as well as pursuing public sector activities. At the end of 1985 and the beginning of 1986, the Post Office entrusted the management of its express delivery service, operated under the name of Postadex, to a private company called Société Francaise de Messagerie Interna- tionale (SFMI) which had been set up for this purpose. SFMI was incorporated with a share-capital of FRF 10 million held by Sofipost (66 %), a holding company wholly owned by the Post Office, and by TAT Express (34 %), a subsidiary of the airline Transport Aérien Trans- régional (‘TAT’). SFMI provided the express delivery service under the name of EMS/Chronopost. The conditions for the operation and marketing of the express delivery service were set out in an order of 19 August 1986 by the French Ministry of Posts and Tele- communications. Under this order the service was to be operated by SFMI using mainly the resources of the Post Office supplemented by those of TAT. The arrangements in the order included the requirement that the post office was to provide SFMI with logistical and commercial as- sistance. The contractual relations between the Post Office and SFMI-Chronopost are regulated by way of agreements entered into by the two parties. The first agreement, which was concluded in 1986 and was in force until 1992, was replaced by a second agreement which entered into force on 1 January 1993. In 1992 the structure of the express delivery business changed. Sofipost and TAT set up a new company, Chro- nopost SA (‘Chronopost’), in which their respective holdings were again 66 % and 34 %. Chronopost took over the domestic activity of SFMI, which remained responsible for international business. SFMI was acquired by GDEW France, the French subsidiary of the interna- tional common operator GDEW whose participants are the Australian company TNT and the German, Canadian, French, Netherlands and Swedish post offices. It is worth remembering that GDEW is a concentrative joint venture which was authorised by Commission Decision of 2 December 1991 (V). Under this new structure, Chronopost was to act as a service provider and agent on behalf of SFMI (and thus GDEW) in the handling of its international dispatches in France. Moreover, Chronopost could not compete with SFMI and was its exclusive agent until 1 January 1995. Chronopost was also granted until that date exclusive access to the post office’s network. (In the course of this Decision reference will be made to ‘SFMI-Chronopost’, even when only one of the two companies is involved). () OJ C 322, 13. 12. 1991, p. 19.