29.7.2000 Official Journal of the European Communities L 19379 II (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 8 July 1999 on aid granted by France to the Crédit Agricole group in connection with the collecting and keeping of notaries' deposits in rural municipalities (notified under document number C(1999) 2147) (Only the French text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2000/480/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Populaires (CSBP) concerning the rights granted by the State to Crédit Agricole. Having r.egard to the. Treaty e:stablishing the European (2)  The French authorities replied by letter dated 9 April Community, and in particular the first subparagraph of Article 1998, providing a fully detailed reply to the questions 88(2) thereof, asked in the letter initiating the procedure and announcing that they planned to end the right of Crédit Agricole to collect notaries' deposits by mid-1998. Having regard to the Agreement on the European Economic Following publication of the notice on the initiation of Area, and in particular Article 62(1)(a) thereof, proceedings in the Official Journal of the European Communities (), Crédit Agricole, in a letter to the Commission dated 5 June 1998, explained why the Having called on interested parties to submit their comments measures in question did not constitute State aid. By pursuant to those provisions, letter dated 22 September 1998, the Commission asked the French authorities for further details on the basis of their reply of 9 April. The French authorities replied on Whereas: 7 January 1999. The Commission sent a further letter on 25 January asking the French authorities to confirm that the rights granted to Crédit Agricole were to be abolished. The authorities informed it by letter dated 28 April 1999 of the measures it planned to take to put an end to the rights in question by 1 April 2000. PROCEDURE I CREDIT AGRICOLE — DESCRIPTION OF THE NOTA- (1) By letter dated 22 January 1998, the Commission RIES' DEPOSIT SYSTEM informed the French authorities that it had initiated a procedure under Article 88(2) in respect of the advan- tages granted by the French State to Crédit Agricole (3)  Before the merger of Société Générale and Paribas through the exclusive right to collect deposits from announced in February 1999, the Crédit Agricole group notaries in rural areas. The procedure was initiated was the leading French banking group and the fifth following a complaint lodged by Association Frangaise des Banques (AFB) and Chambre Syndicale des Banques () O] C 144, 9.5.1998, p. 6.