No L 211/24 Official Journal of the European Communities 4. 8. 88 IT (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COMMISSION "COMMISSION DECISION of 20 January 1988 concerning aids planned by the French Government in favour of a shipbuilding contract for which there is competition between yards in several Member States (Only the French text is authentic) (88/437/EEC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular the first subparagraph of Article 93 (2) thereof, Having regard to Council Directive 87/167/EEC of 26 January 1987 on aid to shipbuilding ('), and in particular Articles 3 and 4 (1), in conjunction with Article 4 (4) and (5), thereof, Having given the parties concerned notice to submit their comments, . Whereas : On 20 January 1987 the United Kingdom Government requested, according to Article 4 (5) of Directive 87/167/EEC, that the Commission intervene in a specific aid case concerning competition between several Member States for a shipbuilding contract concerning the building of a 36 500 cgt car ferry for the French cross-Channel operator Bretagne-Angleterre-Irlande (BAI), also called Brittany Ferries. : It appeared that the Member States with national yards involved in the competition for the contract concerned were France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Thé Commission asked these three Member States to notify the aid which they planned to grant in support of their yards for this particular contract, drawing to their () OJ No L 69, 12. 3. 1987, p. S5. attention the fact that such aid plans could not be implemented until the Commission had given its final approval. ‘ The aid envisaged by the United Kingdom Government was notified in the abovementioned note of 20 January 1987 and further specified by letter of 27 March 1987. The aid plan of the Netherlands Government was notified by telex of 9 March 1987, whilst that of the French Government, after several reminders, was only notified on 10 June 1987. ' The aid plan notified by the French Government consisted of a direct production aid to the yard of 28 % of the contract value before aid together with a FF 40 million aid to the French domiciled shipping company, the latter aid being available regardless of the country of construction. ) . The United Kingdom Government planned an aid in the form of a grant to the competing national yard from the Shipbuilding Intervention Fund of 27,9 % of the contract value before aid. : The aid envisaged by the Netherlands Government in favour of the competing national yard was a grant of 13,4 % of the contract value before aid. It appeared that, contrary to Article 4 (5) of Directive 87/167/EEC, when, in accordance with Article 4 (4) in conjunction with Article 3 (2) of the Directive, aid to be granted directly to the national yards and the indirect production aid made available to the shipowner for the building of the ship were cumulated, both the -aid