Commission has published in the Official Journal of the European Union on May 30th 2009, an invitation to interested parties to present their comments on certain measures planned by French government in favour of the port sector. Interested parties may submit their opinions within one month of this publication.

The measures notified are part of the port sector reform undertaken by French government and introduced by the French port reform law. The objective of the French port reform is to improve the performance and competitiveness of France's seaports.

The port reform comprises the transfer of handling operations to private operators under a procedure for the transfer of equipment in the major maritime ports and two fiscal aid measures:

• To reduce the tax on the equipment transferred in the major seaports
• Another measure that may lead to exemption from local taxes levied on equipment used in all the maritime ports (both major maritime ports and decentralised ports).

In relation to the first measure, the Commission can not at this stage rule out that transferring port handling equipment through a direct agreement procedure could be considered as a form of State aid within the meaning of the Treaty. The Commission also has doubts as to the compatibility of such a measure with the provisions of Article 87(2) and (3) of the EC Treaty.

With regard to the fiscal measures, the Commission considers that this constitutes State aid to the port handling undertakings and expresses its doubts as to its compatibility with the derogations provided for by the Treaty and, in particular, the guidelines on regional State aid for the period 2007-2013.

This exemption is limited to a six-year period. The total rebate for the whole exemption period amounts to 97,50 million euros.

Interested parties may submit their comments within one month of the date of publication of this summary and the following letter to:

European Commission
Directorate-General for Energy and Transport
Directorate A — Unit A2
1049 Bruxelles/Brussel
BELGIQUE/BELGIË
Fax + 32 22964104

The comments will be communicated to France. Confidential treatment of the identity of the interested party submitting the comments may be requested in writing, stating the reasons for the request.