L 244[10 Official Journal of the European Union 16.9.2009 I (Acts adopted under the EC Treaty/Euratom Treaty whose publication is not obligatory) DECISIONS COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 16 July 2008 relating to State aid C 29/04 (ex N 328/03) that Italy is considering granting to the Villasor sugar refinery owned by Sadam ISZ (notified under document C(2008) 3531) (Only the Italian text is authentic) (2009/704/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community and, in particular, Article 88(2)(1) thereof, having given interested parties notice to submit their comments pursuant to that Article, and having regard to those comments, Whereas: I. PROCEDURE By letter dated 22 July 2003, Italy notified the Commission of the aid to the Villasor sugar refinery owned by Sadam ISZ. By letters dated 19 September 2003 and 30 March 2004, Italy submitted the additional information to the Commission. By letter dated 8 September 2004, the Commission informed Italy of its decision to initiate the procedure referred to in Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty in respect of the aid in question. By letters dated 13 October 2004 and 7 April 2005, Italy forwarded to the Commission the Italian authorities’ comments concerning the decision to initiate the formal investigation procedure. The Commission decision to initiate the procedure was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (1). The Commission called on interested parties to submit their comments on the aid in question. () O] C 51, 1.3.2005, p. 9. () ) The Commission received comments on this subject from interested parties. It forwarded them to Italy, giving it the opportunity to comment on them, and received Italy’s comments by letter dated 18 May 2005. By letters dated 31 January 2008 and 14 April 2008, the Italian authorities forwarded to the Commission the information requested by letter dated 29 March 2007. II. DESCRIPTION The recipient firm — the Villasor sugar refinery owned by Sadam ISZ — is a sugar beet processing facility. It is the only one in Sardinia (one of the largest islands in the Mediterranean). The Italian authorities are making EUR 3,5 million available to the refinery in order partially to compensate it for the losses it sustained following the slump in sugar production caused by the fall in sugar beet supplies following the drought in 2001-2002. Regarding sugar beet production, the competent authorities provided data showing a decrease in regional production and, consequently, of sugar beet supplies. Compared with the 1998-2000 reference period, the fall was 39 % in 2001 and 68 % in 2002 (9. The Commission authorised the granting of aid (aid N 745/2000 and aid N 331/02) to Sardinian agricultural producers under point 11.3 of the Community guidelines for State aid in the agri- culture sector (O] C 28, 1.2.2000, p. 2) for the losses they sustained following the drought concerned.