7.3.2012 Official Journal of the European Union L 683 DECISIONS COMMISSION DECISION of 20 September 2011 on the measure C 35/10 (ex N 302/10) which Denmark is planning to implement in the form of duties for online gambling in the Danish Gaming Duties Act (notified under document C(2011) 6499) (Only the Danish text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2012/140/EV) 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) 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 those provisions (!) and having regard to their comments, Whereas: 1. PROCEDURE (1) On 6 July 2010, pursuant to Article 108(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) the Danish authorities notified the Legislative Proposal L 203 on Gaming Duties (the ‘Gaming Duties Act’ (%)), adopted on 25 June 2010, for the sake of legal certainty. The Commission requested further information by letters dated 11 August 2010 and 22 September 2010. The Danish authorities provided the requested information by letter dated 20 October 2010. (20 The Commission also received two separate complaints with regard to the proposed Gaming Duties Act. The first was submitted by the Danish Amusement Machine Industry Association (DAB) on 23 July 2010. The second complaint was submitted by a land-based casino operator, ‘the Royal Casino’, on 6 August 2010. () 0] C 22, 22.1.2011, p. 9. (3 Act No 698 on Gaming Duties (Lov om afgifter af spil). Both complaints were forwarded to the Danish auth- orities on 23 September 2010 for their comments. The Danish authorities submitted their comments in their letter of 20 October 2010. (3) A meeting with the Danish authorities to discuss the notification and the two complaints referred to above took place in Brussels on 10 November 2010. During the meeting the Danish authorities submitted a note entitled ‘The dilemma created by the pending State aid case’ in which they also announced their intention to delay the entry into force of the notified Act until the Commission had adopted a decision (3). (4) By decision of 14 December 2010, the Commission informed Denmark that it had decided to initiate the procedure laid down in Article 108(2) TFEU in respect of the notified measure. The Commission decision to initiate the procedure (hereinafter the ‘initiating decision) was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (*. The Commission invited interested parties to submit comments. (5)  The Danish authorities submitted their observations on the initiating decision by letter of 14 January 2011. (6)  In total, 17 interested third parties submitted comments between 11 February and 22 February 2011 (°). These comments were forwarded to Denmark on 16 March 2011, which was given the opportunity to respond. The Commission received Denmark’s comments by letter dated 14 April 2011. () Although the notified measure was initially due to enter into force on 1 January 2011, in order to comply with the State aid provisions, Article 35, paragraph 1 of the Gaming Duties Act provides that the Minister of Taxation will set the date for the Act’s entry into force. (*) See footnote 1. (®) See below, Section 5.