23.7.2002 Official Journal of the European Communities L 194/37 COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 3 April 2002 concerning the aid provided for by Article 4 of Law No 290 of 17 August 1999 (notified under document number C(2002) 1188) (Only the Italian version is authentic) (2002/597/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 called on interested parties to submit their comments pursuant to the aforementioned provisions (!), and having regard to those comments, Whereas: I. PROCEDURE By letter dated 6 August 1998, registered as received on 12 August 1998, the Italian Permanent Representation to the European Union notified the Commission, pursuant to Article 88(3) of the EC Treaty, of a draft law extending time limits in the agricultural sector. The aid was registered under number N 490/98. By letters dated 1 October 1998 and 28 January 1999, the Commission asked the Italian authorities for further information. By letter dated 30 November 1998, regis- tered as received on 4 December 1998, the Italian authorities replied to the Commission's letter of 1 October 1998. By letter of 13 September 1999, the Commission asked the Italian authorities to provide the information requested in its letter of 28 January 1999, which it had not yet received. In the same letter the Commission () O] C 148, 27.5.2000, p. 2. (6) invited the Italian authorities to confirm press reports that the draft law had been enacted by the Parliament as Law No 290 of 17 August 1999, published in the Official Gazette of the Italian Republic No 195 of 20 August 1999. By letter dated 25 October 1999, registered as received on 5 November 1999, the Italian authorities confirmed that the draft law had been adopted as Law No 290 of 17 August 1999. The same letter attached the text of the law as adopted and also supplied some of the informa- tion sought by the Commission in its letter of 28 January 1999. Based on this information, the aid scheme was trans- ferred onto the register of non-notified aid under number NN 155/99. By letter dated 24 February 2000, SG(2000) D/101808, the Commission informed Italy of its decision to initiate the procedure laid down in Article 88(2) EC in respect of Articles 4 and 5 of Law No 290 of 17 August 1999 as well as of Article 15(16) of Law No 67 of 11 March 1988 (the 1988 Finance Act) and Law No 252 of 8 August 1991, which constituted the legal basis for the granting of the subsidies cited in Article 5 of Law 290/ 99. In the same letter the Commission also informed Italy that it raised no objections to the other Articles (Articles 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 and 8) of Law No 290 of 17 August 1999 in that they did not constitute aid within the meaning of Article 87(1) EC.