2002/938/ECSC: Commission Decision of 17 July 2002 on the State aid which Italy is planning to implement for Acciaierie di Sicilia SpA (notified under document number C(2002) 2594) (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2002-07-17
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Italy, Sicily, State aid, control of State aid, environmental protection, iron and steel industry

L 329/30

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

5.12.2002

COMMISSION DECISION

of 17 July 2002

on the State aid which Italy is planning to implement for Acciaierie di Sicilia SpA

(notified under document number C(2002) 2594)

(Only the Italian text is authentic)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2002/938/ECSC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Coal
and Steel Community, and in particular Article 4(c) thereof,

Having regard to Commission Decision No 2496/96/ECSC of
18 December 1996 establishing Community rules for State aid
to the steel industry (1), and in particular Article 6(5) thereof,

Having regard to the Agreement on the European Economic
Area, and in particular Article 62(1)(a) thereof,

Having called on interested parties to submit their comments
pursuant to the provisions cited above (2) and having regard to
their comments,

Whereas:

I. PROCEDURE

(1)

(2)

(3)

By letter dated 20 December 2001,
registered as
received on 21 December, Italy notified the Commission
of
its intention to grant aid to four projects to be
carried out by Acciaerie di Sicilia SpA.

By letter dated 15 February 2002,
informed Italy that
procedure
2496/96/ECSC (the Steel Aid Code)
aid.

the Commission
it had decided to initiate the
of Decision No
in respect of the

under Article

6(5)

The Commission decision to initiate the procedure was
published in the Official
the European
Communities (3). The Commission invited interested
parties to submit their comments on the aid.

Journal

of

(4)

By letter dated 12 April 2002, Italy withdrew its aid
the planned projects except one
notification for all

(1) OJ L 338, 28.12.1996, p. 42.
(2) OJ C 70, 19.3.2002, p. 4.
(3) See footnote 2.

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

(acquisition of an installation for the purification of
smoke from an electric furnace), which is the subject of
this decision. It also informed the Commission that, in
view of the deadline of 22 July for the payment of the
aid imposed by the Steel Aid Code, only the first
instalment of the aid would be paid.

By letter dated 17 April 2002,
the United Kingdom
Steel Association submitted comments on the aid. The
Commission forwarded them to Italy, which was given
the opportunity to react. Its comments were received by
letter dated 16 May.

II. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE AID

Acciaerie di Sicilia is a steel producer belonging to the
Alfa Acciai group.
It was set up in May 1998 and
remained inactive until March 1999, when it acquired
the production plant of Acciaerie Megara, which had
been closed since 1996. It reopened the rolling mill in
April 1999 and the steel plant in October of that year.

The aid is granted by the Ministry of Production
Activities under Law No 488/92 on aid in depressed
areas. The aid was approved on 9 April 2001, subject to
authorisation by the Commission.

it

(nge) within the limits of

Following the partial withdrawal of
the notification
mentioned above (see recital 4), the aid concerns only
is
one project. Granted under Law No 488/92,
calculated on the basis of a percentage expressed as a
net grant equivalent
the
maximum aid approved by the Commission for the aid
scheme in question, according to the size of the firm
and the location of the production unit. In the case of
Acciaerie di Sicilia, the percentage approved by Italy
was 17,5 % nge. This corresponds to EUR 680 000 to
be paid in three instalments. However, only one
instalment will be paid. Therefore, the actual aid will
amount to EUR 220 000.

5.12.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 329/31

or eliminate pollution which will allow the firm to
improve significantly on mandatory standards may be
authorised up to a maximum of 30 % gross of
the
eligible costs (point 3.2.B, first paragraph).

(15) According to the Annex to the Steel Aid Code, for firms
that significantly improve on environmental protection,
any advantage from the significant
improvements in
terms of lower production costs must be deducted from
eligible expenditure.

(16)

(17)

that

In this case,
the new
the Commission notes
installation will allow for significantly higher levels of
environmental
reduce
production costs. It also notes that the intensity of the
proposed aid (9,2 %) is below the maximum laid down
in point 3,2.B of the 1994 environmental guidelines
(30 %).

protection

but will

not

VI. CONCLUSION

In view of the foregoing, the State aid that Italy intends
to grant
to Acciaierie di Sicilia SpA under Law No
448/92 amounting to EUR 220 000 is compatible with
the common market. With regard to the rest of the
notified aid,
the
notification (see recital 4 above), the procedure initiated
on 15 February 2002 is closed,

the withdrawal of

in view of

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

The State aid amounting to EUR 220 000 for the purchase of
a smoke purification plant for an electric furnace which Italy is
planning to implement under Law No 488/92 for Acciaierie di
Sicilia SpA is compatible with the common market.

Article 2

This Decision is addressed to the Italian Republic.

Done at Brussels, 17 July 2002.

For the Commission

Mario MONTI

Member of the Commission

(9)

(10)

The aid is intended for the acquisition of an installation
for the purification of smoke coming from an electric
furnace which currently has an installation for primary
purification, i.e. it purifies the smoke produced during
the melting process when the furnace is covered but not
the smoke that escapes when the furnace is uncovered
for loading and unloading. The limits for dust emissions
imposed by the Region of Sicily in 1992, with which
the current installation already complies, are 25 mg/m3.
With the new installation, emissions will be reduced by
40 %, to 15 mg/m3. No cost savings are generated by
the investment. The eligible costs amount
to EUR
2 400 030 and relate to plant and equipment.

III. COMMENTS BY INTERESTED PARTIES

The United Kingdom Steel Association has stated that
investment could be considered as a genuine
this
Italy
environmental
should demonstrate at what point
the environmental
rules became effective relative to the date when the
plant started operations.

investment. However,

that

felt

it

IV. COMMENTS BY ITALY

(11)

Since the doubts raised by the Commission stemmed
mainly from the lack of information contained in the
notification, the Italian authorities simply provided the
missing information.

V. ASSESSMENT

(12) Acciaierie di Sicilia SpA produces

steel products
included in Annex I to the ECSC Treaty. It is therefore
an undertaking within the meaning of Article 80 of that
Treaty to which the Steel Aid Code applies.

(13) Under Article 3 of the Steel Aid Code, steel companies
may receive aid for environmental
investments. The
criteria for assessing whether such aid is compatible
with the common market are set out in the Annex to
the Steel Aid Code and in the Community guidelines on
State aid for environmental protection (4)
(hereinafter
referred to as (cid:145)the 1994 environmental guidelines(cid:146)).

(14) According to the 1994 environmental guidelines, aid for
investment in plant and equipment intended to reduce

(4) OJ C 72, 10.3.1994, p. 3.