13.7.2012 Official Journal of the European Union L 1831 (Non-legislative acts) DECISIONS COMMISSION DECISION of 20 December 2011 on the State aid C 85/01 on ad hoc measures implemented by Portugal in favour of RTP (notified under document C(2011) 9429) (Only the English text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2012/365/EU) THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular the first subparagraph of Article 108(2) (1) 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 (%) and having regard to their comments, Whereas: I. PROCEDURE (1) By three complaints submitted in 1993, 1996 and 1997 by the commercial broadcaster Sociedade Independente de Comunicagdo SA (SIC), the Commission was informed that Portugal had implemented a number of ad hoc measures and annual compensation measures in favour of the Portuguese public broadcaster, Radiotelevisio Portuguesa SA (RTP). (2) By letter dated 15 November 2001, the Commission informed Portugal that it had decided to initiate the () With effect from 1 December 2009, Article 88 of the Treaty estab- lishing the European Community (EC) has become Article 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). The two sets of provisions are, in substance, identical. For the purposes of this Decision, references to Article 108 of the TFEU should be understood as references to Article 88 of the EC Treaty, where appropriate. In the same manner, Article 86(2) of the Treaty estab- lishing the European Community has become Article 106(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. (3) O] C 329, 24.12.2008, p. 24. procedure laid down in Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty in respect of a number of the ad hoc measures granted to RTP. (3)  The Commission’s Decision to initiate the procedure was published in the Official Journal of the European Commu- nities. Subsequently, Article 1 of Commission Decision 2005/406/EC of 15 October 2003 on ad hoc measures implemented by Portugal for RTP (°), found that certain of those measures, namely the State aid of PTE 68 006 million granted by Portugal to RTP in the form of an agreement with the social security scheme in 1993, capital injections in the period 1994 to 1997 and a loan in 1998 to be compatible with the common market within the meaning of Article 86(2) of the EC Treaty (*). In addition, Article 2 of that Decision stated that certain measures did not contain State aid, namely the exemption from registration charges, the payment for the hiving-off of the television broadcasting network, the facilities granted for payment of the annual fee for the use of the television broadcasting network, the protocol on cinema promotion, the bond issue and the restructuring plan for the period 1996 to 2000. (4)  On 26 June 2008, the Court of First Instance in Case T- 442/03 (°) annulled part of Decision 2005/406/EC on two grounds. It annulled Article 2 of that Decision insofar as it found that the ‘exemption from registration charges’ does not constitute State aid. The Court found that the Commission’s task was to establish, in relation to the ad hoc advantage consisting of the exemption from payment of the registration charges and fees relating to its transformation into a public limited company (hereafter ‘temporary exemption’), whether it () O] C 85, 9.4.2002, p. 9. () O] L 142, 6.6.2005, p. 1. (®) Judgment of the Court of First Instance of 26 June 2008, in Case T-442/03, SIC v Commission [2008] ECR II-1161.