Brussels, 24/10/2008 (Agence Europe) - On 24 October 2008, the European Commission announced that it is planning to extend by three years the application of special state aid assessment criteria for film production. The European Commission at present uses film production in 2001 as the basis of its criteria (see EUROPE 9044). The Commission has launched a public consultation exercise on its plan to extend the expiry of the scheme from the initially planned date of 31 December 2009 to 31 December 2012. The draft derogation has been published on the European Commission's website at http: //ec.europa.eu/comm/competition/state_aid/reform/reform.cfm. The closing date for comments is 30 November 2008. They should be sent to Stateaidgreffe@ec.europa.eu (C.D./transl.fl)