91As the Federal Republic of Germany did not utilise such an option, which was afforded to it by the Regulation on procedure in State aid cases, it therefore waived the legal protection attached to it. In any event, the Federal Republic of Germany and the Freistaat Sachsen did not oppose the initiation of the formal investigation procedure, thus acknowledging the legality of that procedure and the need to collect further information (Austria v Commission, cited in paragraph 80 above, and Case C-398/00 Spain v Commission [2002] ECR I-5643).
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