1999/262/EC: Commission Decision of 22 July 1998 on aid granted by France in connection with the recapitalisation and transfer of the assets of Société de Banque Occidentale (SDBO) (notified under document number C(1998) 2406) (Text with EEA relevance)

• Articles: 4

Article 1

The capital increase of FRF 240,5 million granted by the French State through CDR to SDBO before the transfer of its healthy activities to CL constitutes State aid within the meaning of Article 92(1) of the Treaty and Article 61(1) of the EEA Agreement. The aid is unlawful and is incompatible with the common market within the meaning of Article 92(2) and (3) of the Treaty and Article 61(2) and (3) of the EEA Agreement.

Article 2

France shall take steps to recover the full amount of FRF 240,5 million constituting the State aid in question. The amount to be repaid shall bear interest from the date on which the aid was granted, at the reference rate established by the Commission for the calculation of the net grant equivalent of aid in France.

Article 3

The French Government shall inform the Commission within two months of the date of notification of this Decision of the measures it has taken to comply herewith.

Article 4

This Decision is addressed to the French Republic.

Done at Brussels, 22 July 1998.

For the Commission

Karel VAN MIERT

Member of the Commission

(1) OJ L 346, 16.11.1996, p. 5.

(2) OJ L 308, 21.12.1995, p. 92.

(3) OJ L 221, 8.8.1998, p. 28.

(4) OJ C 207, 8.7.1997, p. 5.

(5) Net result of the financial year.

(6) See paragraph 403, page 273. The French authorities had been informed beforehand about the Commission's position by letter of 14 July 1993 from de Director-General for Competition.

(7) In deciding whether injections of public resources into a firm constitute State aid, the commission applies the principle of a commercial investment in a market economy, see communication to the Member States (OJ C 307, 13.11.1993, p. 3).

(8) See Commission Decision 94/1073/EC (Bull) (OJ L 386, 31.12.1994, p. 1; see judgment of the Court of Justice in Case of 14 September 1994 in Case C-278/92 Spain v. Commission [1994] ECR I-4103 et. seq., paragraph 22.

(9) Official Journal of the French Republic, 26.1.1985, p. 1547 et seq.

(10) Judgments of the Court of Appeal of 5 April 1995 and 3 February 1996.

(11) Community guidelines on State aid for rescuing and restructuring firms in difficulty (OJ C 368, 23.12.1994, p. 12).

(12) FRF 207 million multiplied by an average long-term interest rate of 6,5 % in 1996.