L 60/74 Official Journal of the European Communities 9.3.1999 COMMISSION DECISION of 29 July 1998 on aid granted by Germany to the companies Sophia Jacoba GmbH and Preussag Anthrazit GmbH for 1996 and 1997 (notified under document number C(1998) 2476) (Only the German text is authentic) (1999/184/ECSC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community, and in particular Article 88 thereof, Having regard to Commission Decision No 3632/93/ ECSC of 28 December 1993 establishing Community rules for State aid to the coal industry ('), Whereas: On 23 October 1996 and 5 November 1996 the British company Celtic Energy Ltd lodged two formal complaints with the Commission through the Office of the United Kingdom Permanent Representative to the European Union. Those complaints concern the German mining companies Sophia Jacoba GmbH and Preussag Anthrazit GmbH. By letters of 5 October 1995 and 30 September 1996, Germany notified the financial support it intended to grant for the years 1996 and 1997 in accordance with Article 9(1) of Commission Decision No 3632/93/ECSC. Following these complaints and its own subsequent in- vestigations, the Commission sent a letter of formal notice to Germany on 2 August 1997 in which it officially communicated the content of the complaints and asked for information concerning the actions of the companies and the German authorities. In its letter, the Commission also indicated the principles of law which might have been infringed by Germany and the companies Sophia Jacoba GmbH and Preussag Anthrazit GmbH. Germany replied to the letter of formal notice on 6 October 1997. The Commission invited comments from the other Member States and interested parties in a communication published in the Official Journal of the European () OJ L 329, 30. 12. 1993, p. 12. Communities (). Comments were received from the United Kingdom (letter of 23 September 1997), several competitor companies and the German coal producers, and duly forwarded to Germany. On 13 March 1998, 15 May 1998 and 12 June 1998 respectively, the companies Consolidated Coal plc, Evans & Reid Coal Co., Ltd and Betws Anthracite Ltd also lodged complaints about the sale of German sized-anthra- cite in the Community market and more particularly in the United Kingdom. Preussag Anthrazit GmbH, for its part, sent the Commission a paper through a firm of solicitors setting out its position on the letter of formal notice. Since these complaints and the paper were forwarded to the Commission after the date set in the letter of formal notice and the Commission could not grant Germany further legal hearing, they were not taken into account for the purposes of this Decision. The complaints in question relate to the sale in 1996 and 1997 by Sophia Jacoba GmbH and Preussag Anthrazit GmbH of sized anthracite subsidised in the Community. The extremely favourable prices (compared with the production costs) offered by these companies on the Community market and primarily in the United Kingdom are said to have been possible only through the use of State aid paid by Germany under Decision No 3632/93/ECSC. This aid which, according to the complaint, covers a substantial part of the companies’ production costs, is said to have been used for an unau- thorised purpose. According to the complainant, such practices lead to distortions of competition in the Community anthracite market. In addition, the same product is sold in other Member States by the companies concerned at higher prices than in the United Kingdom. () OJ C 258, 23. 8. 1997, p. 2.