189It is settled case-law that the principle of observance of the rights of the defence requires that the Member State concerned be placed in a position in which it may effectively make known its views on the observations submitted by interested third parties under Article 88(2) EC and on which the Commission proposes to base its decision and that, in so far as the Member State has not been afforded the opportunity to comment on such observations, the Commission may not incorporate them in its decision against that State. However, if such an infringement of the right to be heard is to result in an annulment, it must be established that, had it not been for such an irregularity, the outcome of the procedure might have been different (Case 259/85France v Commission [1987] ECR 4393, paragraphs 12 and 13, and Case C-301/87France v Commission [1990] ECR I-307, paragraphs 30 and 31).