1999/676/EC: Commission Decision of 20 July 1999 concerning presumed aid allegedly granted by France to Sécuripost [notified under document number C(1999) 2537] (Text with EEA relevance) (Only the French text is authentic)

• Articles: 2

Article 1

The measures taken in respect of Sécuripost and covered in the Commision decision to initiate the procedure(9) namely the secondment of post office officials to Sécuripost, the absence of contributions by Sécuripost to unemployment insurance funds, the placing of post office premises at Sécuripost's disposal, the maintenance of Sécuripost vehicles by the Service National des Ateliers et Garages des PTT (SNAG), the granting of a loan of FRF 15 million by Sofipost (a post office holding company) to Sécuripost for 1989 and the rates charged by Sécuripost to the post office, do not constitute state aid within the meaning of Article 87(1) of the Treaty.

Article 2

This Decision is addressed to the French Republic.

Done at Brussels, 20 July 1999.

For the Commission

Monika WULF-MATHIES

Member of the Commission

(1) [1995] ECR II-2651.

(2) [1998] ECR I-1719.

(3) OJ C 311, 22.10.1996, p. 12.

(4) Editions Callon, 1988.

(5) The PIBOR (Paris Inter-Bank Offered Rate) is the money market rate, i.e. the annual rate at which banks are prepared to lend to one another for a period of three months. It is calculated on a daily basis by the French Banking Association as the arithmetic mean of the rates reported by 14 representative institutions on the Paris market.

(6) The French authorities explained that a Decree of 13 July 1979 required the presence of three security guards for any transportation of moneys exceeding FRF 20000. In its internal rules, the post office adopted a lower threshold: FRF 50000 and then FRF 100000.

(7) This year was taken as the reference year: as explained above, Sécuripost quickly found alternative premises to those rented from the post office after 1988.

(8) 1992 statistics compiled by the French vehicle manufacturers union, the DAFSA study of April 1994 and the June 1996 edition of Transport Magazine.

(9) OJ C 311, 22.10.1996, p. 12.