L 12614 Official Journal of the European Communities 13.5.2002 COMMISSION DECISION of 17 October 2001 on the State aid granted by Germany to Deckel Maho Seebach GmbH (Notified under document number C(2001) 3062) (Only the German text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2002/346[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 provisions cited above (!) and having regard to their comments, Whereas: 1. PROCEDURE On 12 February 1998, Germany notified a guarantee and a loan to be awarded to Deckel Maho Seebach GmbH (DMS). The complete notification was received on 27 February 1998. The notification also contained information  concerning other measures already awarded, and the case was therefore registered as unnotified and the Commission sent Germany several sets of questions on 16 April 1998 and 14 August 1998. Germany replied on 30 June 1998 and 17 September 1998. A first meeting to discuss the case took place on 15 October 1998 between representatives of Germany and of the Commission. On 23 December 1998, the Commission sent Germany a reasoned outline of its concerns and requested that Germany respond. On 5 March 1999, Germany submitted a reply and tried to withdraw its notification concerning the guarantee and loan. On 23 September 1999, a meeting was held to discuss the case again. Further information was submitted on 2 November 1999. By letter dated 17 May 2000, the Commission informed Germany that it had decided to initiate the procedure laid down in Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty in respect of ()) O] C 217, 29.7.2000, p. 20. the aid. At the same time, it issued an information injunction pursuant to Article 10(3) of Council Regulation (EC) No 659/1999 of 22 March 1999 (3. Germany reacted to the initiation of proceedings and the information injunction by letter dated 14 July 2000. The Commission decision to initiate the procedure was published in the Official Journal of the European Communities (}). The Commission called on interested parties to submit their comments on the measures. The Commission received comments from interested parties. It forwarded them to Germany, which was given the opportunity to react; its comments were received by letter dated 10 August 2001. 2. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE AID 2.1. The beneficiary of the aid Article 87(1) of the EC Treaty refers to the concept of undertaking in defining the beneficiary of aid. As confirmed by the Court of Justice (*), an undertaking for the purposes of that provision does not have to be single legal entity, but may encompass a group of companies. The key criterion in determining whether there is an undertaking within the meaning of that provision is whether an ‘economic unit’ is involved. An economic unit may be composed of several legal persons. In the present case, the legal entity which is the beneficiary of the different financial measures is DMS. However, several elements indicate that the relevant undertaking is not confined to the legal person of DMS alone. () OJL 83, 27.3.1999, p. 1. (%) See footnote 1. () Case 323/82 Intermills v Commission [1984] ECR 3809.