L 50/66 Official Journal of the European Communities 21.2.2002 COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 30 October 2001 on the State aid awarded by France to the Société nationale maritime Corse-Méditerranée (SNCM) (notified under document number C(2001) 3279) (Only the French text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2002/149(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 Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty and Article 6(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 659/1999 of 22 March 1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Article 93 of the EC Treaty (%), Whereas: 1. INTRODUCTION (1) Scheduled maritime transport services between the ports of mainland France and Corsica have been provided as a public service since 1948. The French State has entrusted public undertakings with operating maritime services with Corsica since that date. (2)  SNCM (Société nationale maritime Corse-Méditerranée) and CMN (Compagnie méridionale de naviga- tion) are the current concession-holders for this service pursuant to an agreement concluded in 1976 for a period of 25 years. Since 1991, the Corsican regional authority (collectivité territoriale de Corse) has been the authority responsible for guaranteeing the public service. (3)  Apart from the public service (the concessionary network), SNCM also provides scheduled maritime services to Algeria and Tunisia and, in the high season from April to September, to Sardinia (the open network). Since 1990 SNCM has been offering passenger transport services between France and Italy through its subsidiary, Corsica Marittima. () O] C 117, 21.4.2001, p. 9. () O] L 83, 27.3.1999, p. 1.