25.7.2002 Official Journal of the European Communities L 196/31 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 30 January 2002 on the aid scheme which France is planning to implement for the start-up of new short sea ship- ping services (notified under document number C(2002) 372) (Only the French text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2002/610/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Commu- nity, 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 abovementioned articles and having regard to their comments, Whereas: I. PROCEDURE By letter dated 13 October 2000, the French authorities notified the Commission of a planned aid scheme to facilitate the start-up of new short sea shipping services. By letter dated 22 December 2000, the Commission informed France of its decision to initiate the procedure laid down in Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty in respect of the operating aid to cover the costs of running new services. By the same letter, the Commission informed France that it had decided to raise no objections to the financing of preliminary feasibility studies. 3) The Commission decision to initiate the procedure was published in the Official Journal of the European Commu- nities (). The Commission invited interested parties to submit their comments on the measure. The Commission received comments from interested parties. It forwarded them to France, which was given an opportunity to react, and received comments from France by letter dated 3 August 2001. II. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE AID The objective of the scheme which the Commission decided to review is to alleviate the financial difficulties inherent in starting up new short sea shipping services. The aid is to be paid for a maximum of three years and is to be limited to 30 % of the eligible expenditure, with a ceiling in absolute figures of EUR 1 million in the first year, two-thirds of the amount granted in the second year and one third of this amount in the third year. Aid may be granted only to projects involving several players in the transport chain and shippers. The projects funded must concern the creation of a new service either (a) between French ports or (b) between a French port and a port in another Member State. () OJ C 37, 3.2.2001, p. 16.