2.4.2005 Official Journal of the European Union L 85/27 COMMISSION DECISION of 20 April 2004 on the aid implemented by France in favour of the Coopérative d’exportation du livre francais (CELF) (notified under document number C(2004) 1361) (Only the French text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2005/262[EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNTIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Com- munity, 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 in accordance with the above Articles (), and having regard to those comments, Whereas: I. PROCEDURE (1) By judgment of 28 February 2002 (3, the Court of First Instance of the European Communities annulled the last sentence of the Article 1 of Commission Decision 1999/133[EC of 10 June 1998 concerning State aid in favour of the Coopérative d’exportation du livre francais (CELF) (}), which stated that: ‘The aid granted to CELF for the handling of small orders of books in the French language constitutes aid within the meaning of Article 92(1) of the EC Treaty. As the French Government failed to notify the aid to the Commission prior to its implementa- tion, the aid has been granted unlawfully. It is, however, compatible aid as it satisfies the conditions for derogation under Article 92(3)(d) of the Treaty’ (*). (2)  The judgment followed a long procedure, the principle stages of which are set out below. A. FIRST STAGE OF THE PROCEDURE (3) By letter dated 20 March 1992, the Société internatio- nale de diffusion et d'édition (SIDE), which presented () OJ C 366, 5.12.1996, p. 7. () Case T — 155/98 Société internationale de diffusion et d’édition (SIDE) v Commission [2002] ECR 1I-1179. () OJ L 44,18.2.1999, p. 37. (*) The underlined sentence is the one annulled by the Court. itself as ‘a French firm that exports books and has to compete with a publishers’ cooperative receiving State aid’ (°), drew the Commission’s attention to aid measures for promotion, transport and marketing granted by the French authorities to CELF, which aid had not been noti- fied to the Commission’s services in advance in breach of Article 93(3) (now Article 88(3)) of the Treaty. (4) By letter dated 2 April 1992, the Commission pointed out to the French authorities that any plans to grant or alter aid must be notified in advance to its services and asked the said authorities to inform it about the nature and purpose of the aid measures referred to by SIDE. (5) By letter dated 29 June 1992, the French authorities confirmed to the Commission the existence of grants to CELF. They explained that the measures were designed to make French literature and language known in non-French-speaking countries and that Celf had been asked to manage three schemes of ad hoc aid designed to facilitate access by readers in far-off places to French books. (6) By letter dated 7 August 1992, the Commission confirmed to SIDE the existence of aid to CELF, explained its purpose and informed the company that the measures in question had not been notified. It stated, however, that the disputed aid did not seem likely to adversely affect trade between Member States. SIDE was accordingly asked to submit its comments. (7) By letter dated 7 September 1992, SIDE informed the Commission that it intended to object to the discrimina- tory nature (°) of the measures and the consequences for intra-Community trade, without however disputing the cultural objective of the Ministry of Culture, which was to see the spread of the French language and French literature. () Extract from the letter from SIDE dated 20 March 1992. (°) SIDE mentions in particular that the Ministry of Culture refused it access to the aid granted to CELF.