L 117/44 Official Journal of the European Communities 5.5.1999 COMMISSION DECISION of 22 December 1998 on German aid to the coal industry for 1999 (notified under document number C(1998) 4569) (Only the German text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (1999/299/ECSC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community, Having regard to Commission Decision No 3632/93/ ECSC of 28 December 1993 establishing Community rules for State aid to the coal industry ('), in particular Article 2(1) and Article 9 thereof, Having regard to Commission Decision of 2 December 1998 on German aid to the coal industry for 1998 (3), Whereas: I By letters of 25 September 1998, 2 December 1998 and 14 December 1998, Germany notified the Commission, in accordance with Article 9(1) of Decision No 3632/93/ ECSC, of the aid it intended to grant to the coal industry in 1999. In accordance with the provisions of Decision No 3632/ 93/ECSC, the Commission gives its opinion on the following financial measures for 1999: (a) operating aid within the meaning of Article 3 totalling DEM 5 141 million; (b) aid for the reduction of activity within the meaning of Article 4 totalling DEM 3 220 million; (c) aid within the meaning of Article 3 totalling DEM 73 million to maintain an underground labour force (Bergmannsprdamie), (d) aid within the meaning of Article 5 totalling DEM 11,3 million to assist the undertaking RAG Aktienge- sellschaft to cover exceptional costs; (e) aid within the meaning of Article 5 totalling DEM 748 million to assist the undertakings RAG Aktienge- sellschaft and Sophia Jacoba GmbH to cover the costs arising from or having arisen from the restructuring of the coal industry which are not related to current production (inherited liabilities). () OJ L 329, 30.12.1993, p. 12. OJ L 109, 27.4.1999, p. 14. The financial measures proposed by Germany for the coal industry fall within the scope of Article 1(1) of Decision No 3632/93/ECSC. In accordance with Article 9(4), the Commission is therefore required to give an opinion on these measures. For this purpose, it checks whether they conform to the general objectives and criteria defined in Article 2 and the specific criteria defined in Articles 3 and 4 of the Decision and whether they are compatible with the functioning of the common market. Furthermore, in accordance with Article 9(6), the Commission has to decide whether the notified measures are compatible with the plan for modernisation, rationalisation, restructuring and the reduction of activity approved by the Commis- sion in its Decision of 2 December 1998. II The aid pursuant to Article 3, totalling DEM 5 141 million, is intended for the operation of the mines owned by the undertakings RAG Aktiengesellschaft, Preussag Anthrazit GmbH, Dr Arnold Schifer GmbH and Merch- weiler GmbH. In the case of RAG Aktiengesellschaft, the aid is intended in particular to assist the mines Friedrich Heinrich/ Rheinland, Niederberg, Walsum, Lohberg/Osterfeld, Prosper/Haniel, Westerholt, Auguste Victoria, Blumen- thal/Haard and Heinrich Robert. The measure is also intended for the mines Ensdorf and Warndt/Luisenthal, which have been owned by RAG Aktiengesellschaft since 1 January 1998. In the case of Preussag Anthrazit GmbH, the measure is intended for the site at Ibbenbiiren. This aid is intended to cover the difference between production costs and the sales price freely agreed on the basis of the conditions prevailing on the world market for coal of similar quality from third countries. It will permit the undertakings and production sites to take the meas- ures required to achieve a gradual reduction in production costs. According to the information supplied by Germany, the average production costs in the mines covered by Article 3 should in real terms be 8,2 % lower in 1999 than in 1995 at 1992 prices, namely DEM 246 per tce as compared with DEM 268 per tce. The reduction in production costs is in accordance with the aims of the