L155/52 Official Journal of the European Communities 28.6.2000 COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 22 December 1999 on the aid scheme which France is planning to implement in favour of the French port sector (notified under document number C(1999) 5204) (Only the French text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2000/410/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 provision(s) cited above ('), and having regard to their comments, Whereas: I. PROCEDURE By letter dated 25 May 1998, France notified the Commission of the aid scheme in favour of the French port sector. It furnished the Commission with supple- mentary information by letters dated 31 July 1998, 6 November 1998, 27 November 1998, 26 January 1999, 16 February 1999 and 20 April 1999. By letter dated 14 June 1999, the Commission informed France of its decision to initiate the procedure laid down in Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty in respect of this aid scheme. The Commission decision to initiate the procedure was published in the Official Journal of the European Communi- ties (). The Commission called on interested parties to submit their comments. () O] C 233, 14.8.1999, p. 25. () See footnote 1. (4) (6) The Commission has received comments from interested parties. It has transmitted them to France, which has had the opportunity to react. Its comments were received by letter dated 13 October 1999. II. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE AID The French port sector can at present be characterised by substantial public involvement in the financing and management particularly of the heavy port equipment, such as gantry cranes (hereinafter ‘the equipment), which is operated partly by personnel employed in the public sector. The aim of the proposed aid scheme is to render the provision of cargo handling services more efficient by completing the restructuring process started in 1992, through a reform whereby cargo handling companies will become fully responsible for the provi- sion of these services in the ports concerned. The means to do so is by modernising and rationalising the organ- isation of these services, and to this end the notified scheme proposes a reduction of the tax base for the French ‘taxe professionnelle’ for the private cargo handling companies. As notified by France, the proposed tax reduction would affect 23 French ports (see Annex to the present Decision), where currently some 99 private cargo handling (stevedoring) companies operate. The vast majority of these companies are SMEs. The French authorities also expressed their wish that the proposed scheme would attract foreign investments from non- French companies that may be interested in establishing themselves in these ports. The equipment is currently owned and financed by the public (port) authorities that