L 23810 Official Journal of the European Union 5.9.2008 COMMISSION DECISION of 11 March 2008 on State aid (Germany) exemption from mineral oil tax for greenhouse undertakings (notified under document number C(2008) 860) (Only the German version is authentic) (2008/715[EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 88(2) thereof, Having called on interested parties to submit their comments pursuant to the provision cited above and having regard to their comments (1), Whereas: I. PROCEDURE By letter of 19 April 2005, registered as received on 20 April 2005, Germany notified a measure granting a tax refund for greenhouses in 2005 and 2006. The measure contains a suspensive clause making its imple- mentation dependent on approval by the Commission. The State aid case was registered under the number N 189/05. The measure is an extension of a non-notified scheme (2001-2002), which was already the subject of an extension (2003-2004), itself also non-notified. Both those non-notified measures were entered in the register of non-notified aid under the number NN 36/2005. By letter of 20 October 2005 the Commission opened the formal investigation procedure in accordance with Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty (3). In response Germany commented by letter of 22 November 2005. The Commission  received several —observations from () OJ C 67, 18.3.2006, p. 23. () See footnote 1. interested third parties. Germany commented on these by letter of 14 June 2006, and provided further information by letter of 12 December 2007. II. DESCRIPTION On 16 August 2001, by means of the Law amending the Mineral Oil Tax Law, Germany introduced a two-year tax reduction for fuels (heating oil, natural gas, liquid gas) for use in greenhouses and covered growing areas. The aid was granted in the form of a tax refund. By means of the Law on the further development of the ecological tax reform of 23 December 2002, the tax refund, which had originally been granted for fuels used between 1 January 2001 and 31 December 2002, was extended until 31 December 2004. By means of the Law on the implementation of the guidelines of 9 December 2004, Germany intended to retain that tax refund until the end of 2006 and notified the extension measure as State aid N 189/05. The tables in Annex I show the refund rates and financial impact of the tax refund in favour of greenhouses, compared to the rest of the agricultural sector. The Commission opened the formal investigation procedure for the following reasons: The measure constitutes State aid. The German authori- ties argued that this case was covered by the exemption contained in the Council Directives on the taxation of energy products (Directive 92[81/EEC, replaced from 2003 by Directive 2003/96/EC). Under those Directives, Member States could grant tax reductions on mineral oils used in horticulture.