26.3.2010 Official Journal of the European Union L 81/1 (Acts adopted before 1 December 2009 under the EC Treaty, the EU Treaty and the Euratom Treaty) COMMISSION DECISION of 10 March 2009 on the State aids C 43/07 (ex N 64/07) and C 44/05 (ex NN 79/05, ex N 439/04) granted by Poland to Huta Stalowa Wola SA (notified under document C(2009) 1480) (Only the Polish text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2010/174/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 the provisions cited above, Whereas: 1. PROCEDURE (1) By letter of 8 October 2004, Poland informed the Commission about measures granted in support of the restructuring of Huta Stalowa Wola SA (hereinafter referred to as ‘HSW’, ‘the beneficiary’ or ‘the company), with a view to obtaining legal certainty that they had been granted before accession and were not applicable after accession, and that they did not therefore constitute new aid which could be examined by the Commission under Article 88 of the EC Treaty. In the event that the Commission were to find these measures to be new aid, Poland asked that they be approved as restructuring aid. (20 The Commission requested Poland to provide further information by letters of 11 November 2004, 1 March 2005, 27 April 2005 and 26 July 2005, to which Poland replied, respectively, by letters of 31 January 2005, registered on 2 February 2005, of 4 April 2005, registered on 8 April 2005, of 7 June 2005, registered on 9 June 2005 and of 2 September 2005, registered on 6 September 2005. (3)  In the course of this exchange of information it emerged that some of the notified measures had been imple- mented in contravention of Article 88(3) of the EC Treaty. (4) By letter of 23 November 2005, the Commission informed Poland that it had decided to initiate the procedure laid down in Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty in respect of those measures. (5)  The Commission’s decision to initiate the Article 88(2) procedure was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (*). The Commission invited interested parties to submit their comments on the measure. (6)  Poland submitted its observations by letter of 7 March 2006, registered on 9 March 2006. No comments were received from third parties. (7) By decision of 20 December 2006 the Commission concluded the formal investigation by declaring restruc- turing aid in favour of HSW compatible with the common market (‘decision of 20 December 2006’) (). The Commission’s examination showed that some aid was granted before Poland’s accession to the EU (PLN 157 million or EUR 37,2 million (), and some after accession (PLN 66 million or EUR 15,6 million). () O] C 34, 10.2.2006, p. 5. () OJ L 112, 30.4.2007, p. 67. () All amounts provided by the Polish authorities in Polish zloty (PLN) have been converted into euro (EUR) by using the exchange rate of 15 January 2008 of EUR 1 = PLN 4,22.