20.4.2002 Official Journal of the European Communities L 105/29 COMMISSION DECISION of 20 December 2001 on the State aid which Belgium is planning to implement for Sidmar NV (notified under document number C(2001) 4471) (Only the Dutch and French texts are authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2002/285[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 the Agreement on the European Economic Area, and in particular Article 62(1)(a) 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), Having called on interested parties to submit their comments pursuant to the abovementioned Decision (?) and having regard to those comments, Whereas: I. PROCEDURE (1) By letter dated 27 November 2000, Belgium, acting in accordance with Article 6(1) of the Commission Decision No 2496/96/ECSC of 18 December 1996 establishing Community rules for State aid to the steel industry (hereinafter the ‘Steel Aid Code’), notified the Commission of a proposal to grant environmental aid to Sidmar NV (hereinafter ‘Sidmar’). By letters dated 19 December 2000, 16 February 2001 and 29 March 2001, the Commission requested further information. The Belgian authorities replied by letters dated 26 January, 15 March and 3 May 2001 respectively. (2) By letter dated 21 June 2001, the Commission informed Belgium that it had decided to initiate the procedure laid down in Article 6(5) of the Steel Aid Code in respect of the aid for three of the projects and that it had no objections to the aid for the other five projects. () OJ L 338, 28.12.1996, p. 42. (3) O] C 234, 18.8.2001, p. 2. (3)  The Commission decision to initiate the procedure was published in the Official Journal of the European Communities (}). The Commission invited interested parties to submit their comments. (4  Sidmar presented its comments by letter dated 14 September 2001. The Commission forwarded them to Belgium, which was given the opportunity to react. Belgium presented its own comments by letter dated 2 August 2001 and commented on Sidmar's letter by letter dated 31 October 2001. II. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE AID (5)  The total cost of the three projects in respect of which the Commission initiated the procedure is EUR 5140419 and the Belgian authorities proposed to grant aid corresponding to 12 % of the respective costs, amounting in total to EUR 616 851. (6) One of the three projects, ‘centralised reduction of scrap’, consisted in replacing the former system of reducing scrap in the place where it is produced by a centralised system in which scrap is reduced in a single location. In contrast to the previous situation, this central location is enclosed and the resulting waste gases are then cleaned via a filter unit. The total cost of the equipment (EUR 2478 935) was deemed eligible for environmental aid by the Belgian authorities. This includes not only the waste-gas cleaning equipment but also the cutting machinery. The proposed aid for this project amounts to EUR 297 472. (7 The other two projects, ‘sludge treatment at steel plants’ and ‘sludge treatment at furnaces’, consisted of investments in centrifuges to drain the sludge produced at the steel plants and furnaces. Although the projects allow the sludge to be re-used as a raw material, the Belgian authorities did not deduct any savings from (%) See footnote 2.