27.9.2006 Official Journal of the European Union L 268/19 COMMISSION DECISION of 23 November 2005 on the State Aid schemes implemented by Slovenia in the framework of its legislation on Carbon Dioxide Emission Tax (notified under document number C(2005) 4435) (Only the Slovene version is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2006/640/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 provision(s) cited above (%), Whereas: PROCEDURE On 18 October 2002, the Slovene authorities informed the Commission about the existence of a State aid scheme whereby certain categories of companies benefit from a tax reduction under the national CO, emission tax. The scheme was registered at the Commission as case SI 1/2003. The scheme had previously been approved by the national State aid authority of Slovenia in conformity with Annex IV, Chapter 3, paragraph 2 of the Treaty of Accession of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hun- gary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia to the European Union (%) (Treaty of Accession), on the basis of the Community Guidelines on State aid for environmental protection (Environmental guidelines) (3). Due to the lack of complete information concerning the measure, the Commission asked Slovenia for further clarification and the scheme could not be included in the existing aid list under the Appendix to the Annex IV of the Treaty of Accession. Further information was submitted to the Commission by the Slovene authorities on 7 November 2002, 1 April 2003, 16 May 2003, 1 October 2003, 4 February 2004, 1 June 2004, 17 September 2004 and 28 September 2004. Two meetings took place between the Slovene authorities and the Commission on 24 November 2003 and 8 March 2004. () O] C 46, 22.2.2005, p. 3. @) OJ L 236, 23.9.2003. () 0] C 37,3.2.2001, p. 3. (4) Meanwhile, major changes took place in the EU legislation that had a significant impact on the Slovene CO, tax system: — the Council Directive 2003/96 of 27 October 2003 on the taxation of energy products and electricity () (Energy Taxation Directive’), — the Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and Council of 13 October 2003 establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowances trading within the Community and amending Council Directive 96/61/EC (°) (Directive on emission trad- ing), and — the Directive 2004/8/EC of the European Parliament and Council of 11 February 2004 on the promotion of cogeneration (°) have entered into force on their respective days of publication. Consequently, the Slovene authorities decided to modify their tax scheme, and notified the new — at that time draft — legislation to the Commission. The Commission registered the new scheme in June 2004, under the number N 402/2004. Based on the information at its disposal, the Commission had doubts as to the compatibility of certain parts of both measures SI 1/2003 and N 402/2004 with the common market. Thus, on 14 December 2004, it initiated a formal investigation procedure on the basis of articles 4.4 and 6 of Council Regulation (EC) No 659/1999 on the rules for the application of article 93 of the EC Treaty () and requested the Slovene authorities to submit their comments (the OJ L 283, 31.10.2003, p. 51. OJ L 275, 25.10.2003, p. 32. OJ L 52, 21.2.2004, p. 50. OJ L 83, 27.3.1999, p. 1.