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Commission Decision of 11 May 1999 on State aid which the Italian authorities have implemented in favour of the sugar sector (notified under document number C(1999) 1363)

EN Official Journal of the European Communities 7. 9. 1999L 236/14

II (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 11 May 1999 on State aid which the Italian authorities have implemented in favour of the sugar sector (notified under document number C(1999) 1363) (Only the Italian version is authentic) (1999/605/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular the first subparagraph of Article 88(2) thereof,

Having called on interested parties to submit their comments (1) pursuant to the above Article,

Whereas:

I. PROCEDURE (1) On 15 February 1995, 27 June 1995 and 27 July 1995 the Commission received a report concerning aid implemented by the Italian authorities in favour of companies owning two sugar factories.

(2) By letter dated 22 August 1995 the Permanent Representation of Italy to the European Union notified the aid in question.

(3) By letter dated 25 November 1996, the Commission informed the Italian authorities of its decision to initiate the procedure laid down in Article 88(2) of the Treaty in respect of the aid described in Title II. In this letter, the Commission invited Italy to submit its comments within one month of the date of notification of its decision.

(4) The Commission decision to initiate the procedure was published in the Official Journal of the European Communities (2 ). The Commission invited the other Member States and interested parties to submit their comments on the aid within one month of the above publication.

(5) The Italian authorities submitted preliminary comments by letter on 3 April 1997. On 8 June 1998 they submitted detailed comments regarding the procedure initiated by the Commission.

(6) On 17 April 1997, the Commission received comments from an undertaking operating in the same sector as the two recipient companies of the aid in question and transmitted them to the Italian authorities.

II. DESCRIPTION OF THE AID (7) The aid with regard to which the Commission initiated the procedure was granted to the proprietors of two sugar factories located at Celano (point A) and Castiglion Fiorentino (point B). It was granted chronologically after other public intervention approved by the Commission as investment aid for restructuring the two factories, described in points A and B below. The dates in brackets refer to the decisions of the Interministerial Commission for Economic Planning (hereinafter `CIPE') which approved the granting of the aid.

(8) All the aid was provided through RIBS SpA (hereinafter RIBS), a public joint stock company for intervention in the agri-foodstuffs sector.

(9) According to the information submitted by the Italian authorities, the legal basis for granting the aid is to be found in Acts Nos 700/83 and 209/90, which govern the intervention of RIBS and provide for the adoption of a national plan for restructuring the sugar sector in Italy, even if some of the aid provided does not correspond to the types of aid specified by these acts.

(1) OJ C 88, 19.3.1997, p. 4.

(2) See footnote 1.

EN Official Journal of the European Communities7. 9. 1999 L 236/15

The 1984/85 to 1989/90 national plan for restructuring the sugar sector and its extension (10) By letter dated 15 May 1984, the Commission informed the Italian authorities of its decision concerning the national plan for restructuring the sugar sector relating to the years from 1984/85 to 1989/90 (hereinafter `PN 84/90'). As this plan fixed the aims and some of the procedures for the restructuring in a general manner, without providing enough details to permit a concrete assessment of the compatibility of the aid measures to be implemented, the Commission, when informing the Italian authorities that it did not intend to raise objections regarding Act 700/83, reserved the right to examine the specific intervention plans envisaged in the above law, which would have to be notified to it under Article 88(3) case by case.

(11) On the basis of the PN 84/90 the Italian authorities notified two specific intervention plans, aimed, respectively, at the Castiglion Fiorentino sugar factory and at the Celano and Strongoli works. The two projects were approved by the Commission by letters dated 13

December 1984 and 5 August 1985.

(12) The two plans respectively envisaged the following:

for investments for the restructuring of the Castiglion Fiorentino sugar factory:

(a) a holding by RIBS in the capital of the company,

Zuccherificio Castiglionese SpA (`Castiglionese'), for a sum of ITL 12 billion;

(b) the granting of a loan at a subsidised rate by RIBS to the above company for a sum of ITL 24 billion;

for investments for the restructuring of the sugar factories at Celano and Strongoli:

(a) a holding by RIBS in the capital of the company,

Nusam SpA (`Nusam'), for a sum of ITL 10 billion.

(b) the granting of a loan at a subsidised rate by RIBS to the above company for a sum of...

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