17.11.2009 Official Journal of the European Union L 301/41 COMMISSION DECISION of 17 June 2009 on the State aid C 33/08 (ex N 732/07) to Volvo Aero Corporation for R & D, which Sweden intends to implement (notified under document C(2009) 4542) (Only the Swedish version is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2009/838/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 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 those provisions (1), Having regard to those comments, Whereas: 1. PROCEDURE By letter of 10 December 2007, the Swedish authorities notified to the Commission the measure related to an aid that they intended to grant to Volvo Aero Corporation. The Commission requested further information in a letter dated 28 January 2008. The Swedish authorities submitted some answers to this request in a letter of 18 March 2008. On 15 April 2008, a meeting took place between the Swedish authorities and the services of the Commission, after which the Commission wrote another letter requesting supplementary information on 21 April 2008. The Swedish authorities replied to this letter and submitted further observations by letter of 2 June 2008. In that letter, the Swedish authorities referred to additional information, notably internal exchanges of e- () OJ C 253, 4.10.2008, p. 31. mail between managers of the beneficiary. This supple- mentary information was submitted on 19 June 2008. By letter of 16 July 2008 the Commission notified to Sweden its decision to initiate proceedings pursuant to Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty on the above mentioned measure. The decision of the Commission to initiate proceedings has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union (%). The Commission invited interested parties to submit their observations on the measure. Sweden submitted observations on 17 October 2008. By fax dated 28 October 2008, Fred Bodin, the former President and CEO of Volvo Aero, submitted obser- vations. By letter of 31 October 2008, GE Aviation submitted observations. By e-mail dated 3 November 2008, the IF Metalworkers union of Volvo Aero submitted observations. By letter of 3 November 2008 the Commission has forwarded these observations to the Swedish authorities, which submitted comments on 12 December 2008. The Commission requested further information from the Swedish authorities by letter of 30 March 2009, to which Sweden replied on 3 April 2009. 2. OBJECTIVE OF THE MEASURE The Swedish authorities intend to grant aid to Volvo Acro (the Company) for the research and development (R & D) of components for the GEnx engine, which is an engine developed by General Electric (GE) for the Boeing B787 and B747-8 aircraft. Volvo Aero signed an initial risk-sharing partnership agreement with GE on 15 December 2004 and commenced work on the R & D project. (?) See footnote 1.