13.11.1999 Official Journal of the European Communities L 292/23 COMMISSION DECISION of 30 March 1999 on State aid which France is planning to grant as development aid in the sale of two cruise vessels to be built by Chantiers de 1'Atlantique and operated by Renaissance Financial in French Polynesia (notified under document number C(1999) 903) (Only the French text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (1999/719/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Communities, and in particular the first subparagraph of Article 93(2) thereof, Having regard to Council Directive 90/684/EEA of 21 December 1990 on aid to shipbuilding (), as prolonged by Regulation (EC) No 2600/97 (3), and in particular Article 4(7) thereof, Having called on interested parties to submit their comments pursuant to the provisions cited above, Whereas: I. PROCEDURE By letter dated 4 February 1998, France notified the Commission of the aid which it planned to grant for two cruise vessels that were to be built in Chantiers de I'Atlantique. By letter dated 20 march 1998, France furnished the Commission with supplementary information. By letter dated 18 June 1998 and a corrigendum dated 30 July 1998, the Commission informed France of its decision to initiate the procedure laid down in Article 93(2) of the Treaty in respect of the aid. The Commission decision to initiate the procedure was published in the Official Journal of the European Communities (3). The Commission invited interested parties to submit their comments on the aid. The Commission has received no comments from interested parties. France has furnished the Commission with its comments by letters dated 9 July 1998, 31 August 1998 and 25 February 1999. () OJ L 380, 31.12.1990, p. 27. () OJ L 351, 23.12.1997, p. 18. () 0] C 307, 7.10.1998, p. 6. II. DESCRIPTION OF THE AID Development aid to French Polynesia, hereinafter referred to as ‘FPO’, is to be granted in the form of tax concessions related to the purchase of two cruise vessels, which are to be built in Chantiers de l'Atlantique. The aid was notified in accordance with Article 4(7) of Directive 90/684/EEA, hereinafter referred to as ‘the Shipbuilding Directive’. The aid is to be granted under a fiscal scheme (*) allowing tax concessions on investments in the French departments and territories. The Commission approved the scheme by letter of 27 January 1993 (), in which it stated that the application of the scheme was subject to the Community rules, guidelines and frameworks on aid for various purposes and for various sectors. The cruise vessels are to be sold to investors who are in a financial position to take advantage of the tax exemption offered to investors who reinvest their profits in the vessels. The tax relief amounts to 41,6%, which equals the aid intensity. The group of investors will lease the vessels to Renaissance Financial, hereinafter referred to as ‘RF. RF is obliged to run the vessels in FPO for at least five years (that is, for seven years after the placing of the order). Further, the company has committed itself to the investors to buy the vessels at the end of that period. The cruise vessels have a contractual value of FRF [...] (¥) each. RF is a subsidiary of the American company, Renaissance Cruise Inc. RF was established for the purpose of purchasing and operating the two vessels, and at the time of the notification it was domiciled in Paris. France argued that in the absence of the aid the operator could not acquire the vessels at normal market conditions, because the normal interest rate would be too high to allow their operation in FPO. Despite the () La loi du 11 juillet 1986 modifiée, relative aux investissements productifs dans les départements et territoires d'Outre-Mer. () SG(93) D/1300. () Parts of this text have been edited to ensure that confidential information is not disclosed; those parts are enclosed in square brackets and marked with an asterisk.