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Corrigendum to State aid — Czech Republic — State aid C 27/04 (ex CZ 49/03) — Agrobanka Praha, a.s./GE Capital Bank, a.s. — Invitation to submit comments pursuant to Article 88 (2) of the EC Treaty

(Official Journal of the European Union C 292, 30 November 2004)

(2005/C 10/08)

On page 5, the text of letter reads as follows:

‘The Commission wishes to inform the Czech Republic that, having examined the information supplied by your authorities on the notified measures referred to above, it has decided that a series of them are not applicable after accession. With respect to certain guarantee measures and a put option the Commission has decided to raise objections in accordance with section 3, paragraphs 1 (c), 2 and 3 of Annex IV to the Act concerning the conditions of accession of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak Republic and the adjustments to the Treaties on which the European Union is founded (“the Act of Accession”) and to initiate the procedure laid down in Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty.

I.   PROCEDURE

II.   BACKGROUND

1.   Beneficiaries of the aid

2.   AGB's financial situation

3.   The tender

4.   Present financial situation of GECB

5.   Efforts made by AGB, GECB and GECIH

III.   DESCRIPTION OF THE MEASURES

The Put-Price

IV.   REQUEST FOR ASSESSMENT

V.   ASSESSMENT

1.   Applicability after Accession

1.1.   Legal Framework – The “interim mechanism” procedure

Aid measures not applicable after accession

1.2.   The individual measures

Non-exhaustive list

Lack of precise definition of the risks

Lack of cap for the payable amounts

1.3.   Conclusions

2.   State Aid in the meaning of Article 87(1) EC Treaty

3.   Derogations under Article 87(2) and (3) EC Treaty

3.2.   1994 R & R Guidelines

3.3.   Eligibility of the firm

3.4.   Rescue or Restructuring aid

3.5.   Restructuring aid

Restoration of viability

Avoiding undue distortions of competition

Aid in proportion to the restructuring costs and benefits

VI.   ARTICLE 46(2) OF THE EUROPE AGREEMENT

VII.   CONCLUSION

The Commission has accordingly decided the following:

It should be noted that this decision is adopted after the accession of the Czech Republic, that Article 88 (2) EC fully applies to State aid granted by the Czech authorities and that, therefore, the Commission is entitled to open the formal investigation procedure in respect of a measure that, although not notified, might constitute illegal State aid.

It requests your authorities to forward a copy of this letter to the potential recipients of the aid immediately.’

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(1)  Confidential information.

(2)  Unless otherwise indicated, all references to the ‘Indemnity Agreement’ refer to the Indemnity Agreement as amended by the ‘Amendment Number 1 to Indemnity Agreement’ of 25 April 2004.

(3)  Unless otherwise indicated, all references to Clauses are to Clauses in the ‚Deed of Warranties‘.

(4)  Judgment of the Court of First Instance of 14 January 2004 in Case T-109/01, Fleuren Compost v Commission, nyr, paragraph 74.

(5)OJ C 288, 9.10.1999, p. 2.

(6)OJ C 355, 31.12.1995, p. 1.

(7)  Also all other notified measures were adopted before 9.10.1999.

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