Brussels, 16/04/2008 (Agence Europe) - The Court of First Instance has quashed the Commission's approval for certain French state aid granted to a French language book exporter to non-French speaking countries (T-348/04). On 20 April 2004, the Commission decided that aid paid by France between 1980-2001 to the Coopérative d'Exportation du Livre français (CELF), was compatible with Article 87 EC (decision/2005/262) of the common market. This article (at the time No.92 under the former system of numbering) justifies aid used to preserve culture and heritage, as in this case, for example, when aid was required as compensation for surcharges resulting from the processing of small-scale orders from bookshops abroad. The Court pointed out that the article in question did not enter into force until November 1993 and aid previously granted prior to this date could not be justified. Furthermore, as indicated by a rival company, the Société internationale de diffusion et d'édition (SIDE), the amount of aid is far more than “adequate” compensation for the processing of small orders. The Court of First Instance has therefore ruled against the key sentence underpinning the Commission decision: “The aid is, however, compatible aid, as it satisfies the conditions for derogation”. Without this sentence, the decision completely rules against the aid, which is therefore judged to be illegal. The Commission could possibly carry out another analysis for 1993-2001, the period during which the derogation was applicable but it is clear that the excessive amount of the aid risks making it incompatible with Community law in any case, notwithstanding the cultural objective, “laudable as it may be”. (C.D.)