15.1.2002 Official Journal of the European Communities L 12/33 COMMISSION DECISION of 8 May 2001 concerning State aid implemented by France in favour of the Bretagne Angleterre Irlande company (‘BAI’ or ‘Brittany Ferries’) (notified under document number C(2001) 1422) (Only the French text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2002/15/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 regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 659/1999 of 22 March 1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Article 93 of the EC Treaty (1), Having called on interested parties to submit their comments and having regard to those comments, Whereas: 1. PROCEDURE 1.1. Procedural overview (1) By a complaint of 25 March 1996, registered on 1 April 1996, the Commission was informed that France was intending to grant financial support to the Bretagne Angleterre Irlande shipping company (hereinafter ‘BAI or ‘Brittany Ferries’). (20 In an exchange of letters between 1996 and 1998, France sent a certain amount of information on the matter, at the Commission's request. (3) By letter dated 8 May 1998, the Commission informed France of its decision to initiate the procedure laid down in Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty in respect of aids NN 64/97 and N 9/98, as case C 31/98. () OJ L 83, 27.3.1999, p. 1. (4)  Having sent further information to the Commission, France submitted a new notification as part of the same dossier by letter dated 15 October 1998. This aid was registered as N 618/98. By letter dated 30 December 1998, the Commission informed France of its decision to extend proceedings C 31/98 to include aid N 618/98. (5 The Commission's decisions to initiate and extend the investigation procedure in the abovementioned case were published in the Official Journal of the European Communities (3. The Commission invited interested parties to submit their comments on the aid in question. (6)  The Commission received comments from interested parties regarding both the initiation and the extension of the procedure. It forwarded them to France (%), giving it the opportunity to react, and received France's comments plus additional information, notably by letters dated 20 November 1998 and 18 February and 9 April 1999. (7y  The French authorities sent the Commission the following documents, inter alia: — in July and October 1998, a response to the initiation of the aforementioned procedure, comprising a study by Mazars & Guérard (¥, ‘Comments from Brittany Ferries’ and a document entitled ‘1999 to 2003 plan, — by letter dated 30 March 1999, further comments and the ‘May 1997 Agreement between the State and BATL, and documents entitled ‘1997 to 1999 three-year plan’ and ‘1997 to 1999 restructuring plan’ dated October 1996 and March 1997 respectively, and () OJ C 244, 4.8.1998, p. 9 (initiation of the procedure); 0] C 61, 3.3.1999, p. 11 (extension of the procedure). (®) Letter dated 25.9.1998. (* Mazars & Guérard, (hereinafter ‘M & G') ‘Diagnostic sur la situation financiére et les perspectives du groupe BAT (Diagnosis of the BAI group's financial situation and prospects), April 1998; study commissioned by the French authorities.