L 149/40 Official Journal of the European Communities 16.6.1999 COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 28 October 1998 on State aid implemented by Spain in favour of SNIACE SA, located in Torrela- vega, Cantabria (notified under document number C(1998) 3437) (Only the Spanish text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (1999/395/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Communities and, in particular, the first subparagraph of Atrticle 93(2) thereof, Having called on interested parties to submit their comments pursuant to the provisions cited above ('), and having regard to their comments, Whereas: I. PROCEDURE By letter dated 17 April 1997 the Commission received a detailed complaint from a law firm representing the Austrian company Lenzing AG, the largest Community producer of viscose fibres, concerning various elements of illegal aid awarded to its Spanish competitor ‘Sociedad Nacional de Industrias y Aplicaciones de Celulosa Espanola’ SA (hereinafter referred to as SNIACE). The complaint included new information not provided with its original complaint dated 4 July 1996, in respect of which the Commission had found that there was insufficient evidence of State aid. The new informa- tion provided to the Commission included a copy of a viability plan for SNIACE produced by a private consultancy firm. The complainant alleged () OJ C 49, 14.2.1998, p. 2. that SNIACE had received significant sums of State aid over a period of several years, stretching back to the late 1980s. That aid had not been notified to the Commission in accordance with Article 93(3) of the EC Treaty nor with the Code on aid to the synthetic fibres industry. The aid had distorted competition in a sector suffering from structural overcapacity and had served to keep SNIACE alive artificially. There followed a lengthy preliminary investigation, which included meetings between DG IV, the complainant, and the Spanish authorities on 17 May 1997 and 16 June 1997 respectively. The complaint was registered as non-notified aid under NN 118/97 on 17 July 1997. By letter dated 7 November 1997 the Commission informed the Spanish Government of its decision to initiate the procedure laid down in Article 93(2) of the Treaty in respect of several elements of presumed aid (see below). The Commission decision to initiate the procedure was published in the Official Journal of the Euro- pean Communities (). The Commission invited interested parties to submit their comments on the presumed aid.