23.10.1999 Official Journal of the European Communities L 27437 COMMISSION DECISION of 20 July 1999 concerning presumed aid allegedly granted by France to Sécuripost [notified under document number C(1999) 2537] (Only the French text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (1999/676/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, 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 provisions cited above, Whereas: I. Facts and procedure The judgment of the Court of First Instance (CFI) of 28 September 1995 in Case T-95/94 (1) annulled the Commission decision of 31 December 1993, by which it had declared that various measures affecting the French post office’s subsidiary Sécuripost, a firm operating on the market for the secure transportation of moneys, and about which a complaint had been lodged by the Chambre syndicale nationale des entre- prises de transport de fonds et de valeurs (Sytraval) and by Brink’s France SARL (Brink’s) did not constitute state aid within the meaning of Article 87 (formerly Article 92) of the Treaty. The Commission brought an appeal against this judgment but this was dismissed in its entirety by the Court of Justice on 2 April 1998 in Case C 367/95P(?). The Court acknowledged that the pleas put forward by the Commission in support of its appeal were partly founded. However, it also held that the contested decision was marred by deficiencies in the reasons given which were in themselves sufficient to justify its annulment. It should be noted that the original complainants (Sytraval and Brink’s) did not take part in the appeal. The file which is the subject of the present decision concerns the measures taken by the French State, either directly or through the post office, to assist Sécuripost prior to its transfer to the private sector, authorised by the French Government in 1993. On account of an () [1995] ECR 1-2651. (2) [1998] ECRI-1719. inadequate statement of reasons on a number of points, the Court of First Instance judgment annulled the Commission decision of 31 December 1993 find- ing that no state aid was involved. Consequently, the Commission initiated the procedure  under Article 88(2) (formerly Article 93(2)) of the Treaty in respect of the measures concerned by those points, so as to examine them in the light of Articles 87 and 88 of the Treaty and to decide whether they were compatible with the common market. The decision initiating the procedure was published on 22 October 1996 in the Official Journal of the European Communities (%), giving notice to the other Member States and interested parties to submit their comments on the measures concerned to the Commission within one month of the date of publication. In that decision, the Commission called on the French authorities to provide, inter alia, all the data on the aspects highlighted by the Court of First Instance and to send any other information and observations they considered relevant in the light of the Sytraval judg- ment in order that the Commission could assess the measures in question pursuant to Articles 87 and 88 of the Treaty. The French authorities were informed of the Com- mission decision to initiate the procedure by letter of 26 June 1996. By letter of 12 September 1996, they sent the Commission a note providing a range of information on the points raised by it when it initiated the procedure. Additional information was provided, at the Commission’s request, in a number of subsequent letters. The last of these letters reached the Commission on 28 October 1998. The complainants did not intervene during the pro- cedure and did not submit any comments. No other interested party or Member State besides France sub- mitted comments. (3 OJC311,22.10.1996, p. 12.