48The French Republic contends that the applicants are mistaken with regard to the starting point of the 10-day period, which was not 12 August 2000, the date on which the first list of applicants was submitted to the Commission, but 29 August 2000, when the Commission received the additional information from TotalFina Elf and was in possession of all the information necessary for forming an opinion [see, by analogy, Case C-99/98 Austria v Commission [2001] ECR I-1101, paragraph 56, and Article 4 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 447/98 of 1 March 1998 on the notifications, time-limits and hearings provided for in Regulation No 4064/89, OJ 1998 L 61, p. 1]. The French Republic adds that examination of the case-law concerning infringement of essential procedural requirements shows that only infringements of a certain gravity may call into question the legality of a Commission decision on that basis (see Case C-291/89 Interhotel v Commission [1991] ECR I-2257, paragraph 17, and Case C-137/92 P Commission v BASF and Others [1994] ECR I-2555, paragraphs 75 and 76). Accordingly, the French Republic contends that if a 10-day time-limit is slightly exceeded, that cannot amount to an infringement of an essential procedural requirement such as to entail the annulment of the contested decision.
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