18.2.1999 Official Journal of the European Communities L 44/37 COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 10 June 1998 concerning State aid in favour of Coopérative d’exportation du livre francais (CELF) (notified under document number C(1998) 1728) (Only the French text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (1999/133/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular the first subparagraph of Atrticle 93(2) thereof, Having given the parties concerned the opportunity to submit their comments, in accordance with Article 93, Whereas: I. ANNULMENT OF THE CELF DECISION On 18 September 1995, the Court of First Instance (here- inafter ‘the Court), in its judgment, Case T-49/93, SIDE v. Commission ('), partly annulled a Commission decision of 18 May 1993 which had authorised aid granted by the French Government to exporters of French-language books. The Court annulled the decision in so far as it concerned aid granted to Coopérative d’Exportation du Livre Frangais (CELF) to offset the extra cost involved in handling small orders placed by foreign booksellers. II. PROCEEDINGS PRIOR TO THE COURT ACTION On 20 March 1992, Société International de Diffusion et d’Edition (SIDE), a competitor of CELF’s and the party which subsequently brought the Court action, wrote to the Commission asking whether aid granted to and by CELF had been notified in accordance with Article 93(3) of the Treaty. () [1995] ECR 11-2501. By letters dated 2 April 1992 and 23 February 1993 the Commission asked the French Government to provide information on the measures in respect of CELF. By letter dated 29 June 1992 and fax dated 19 April 1993 the French authorities sent the Commission information concerning CELF. On 7 August 1992 the Commission wrote to SIDE confirming that the aid had not been notified, and requesting it to send the Commission any further infor- mation which it considered relevant. By letter dated 7 September 1992 SIDE submitted information to the Commission. On 18 May 1993 the Commission decided to raise no objection to the aid. On 27 May the Commission wrote to SIDE to inform it of this decision. By letter of 10 June the Commission informed the French Government that the aid had been authorised under the exemption provi- sion in Article 92(3)(c) of the Treaty. III. MAIN FINDINGS OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE On 2 August 1993 SIDE applied to the Court of First Instance for the annulment of the decision taken by the Commission. SIDE put forward three pleas in support of its claims. The Court upheld one of these, alleging breach of Article 92(3), and accordingly annulled the relevant parts of the Commission’s decision on procedural grounds.