9.5.2007 Official Journal of the European Union L 119/37 COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 8 September 2006 on State aid C 45/04 (ex NN 62/04) in favour of the Czech steel producer T¥inecké Zelezdrny as. (notified under document number C(2006) 5245) (Only the Czech text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2007/319/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 Protocol 2 on the restructuring of the Czech steel industry to the 2003 Accession Treaty, Having called on interested parties to submit their comments pursuant to the provisions cited above (), Whereas: 1. PROCEDURE G) The Resolution also stipulates that both transactions can only come into force after receiving a positive decision of the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition (OPC) issued following consultation with the European Commission. By letter dated 26 November 2003, the Commission requested information concerning the above mentioned transactions. On 10 December 2003 and 7 January 2004 meetings were held between the Czech Prime Minister and Minister of Trade and Industry and the Commissioner for Compe- (1)  On 12 November 2003 the Commission received infor- tition. It was agreed that the last statement of the mation that the Czech Government had adopted the Resolution would be respected (see point 3). ‘Resolution concerning the finalisation of the restruc- turing of the steel sector and proposing a solution for Trinecké Zelezdrny, as.’ (hereinafter referred to as TZ). The Resolution indicated that the Government planned (6) On 20 February 2004 the Commission received a to grant State aid amounting to around CZK 1,9 billion description of all the projects for which the Czech (approximately EUR 67 million) (%) to TZ. Government intended to grant State aid to TZ. On 17 March 2004 a technical consultation between the 2)  In the Resolution the Czech Government gave its consent Commission departments, the representatives of the to the following transactions: — the Czech Government acquires from TZ, through the Czech Consolidation Agency (CCA), the 10,54 % stake held by TZ in the steel company ISPAT Novd Hut (INH). The price for these shares will be determined by the Ministry of Finance in agreement with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, — the CCA transfers 10 000 bonds with a nominal value of CZK 1 billion (EUR 35 million), issued by TZ and currently held by CCA, back to their issuer, TZ, for a total price of CZK 100 million (EUR 3,5 million), i.e. only 10 % of their nominal value. () O] C 22, 27.1.2005, p. 2. ) Czech authorities and the company took place in Brussels. On 29 March and 29 April 2004 the Commission sent comments to the Czech authorities indicating that on the basis of the information provided it could not be excluded that the planned acquisition by the Czech Government of the INH shares held by TZ would be done above the market price, thereby involving State aid in favour of the latter, and that State aid financing different TZ projects did not seem to be compatible with the current Community State aid rules. (3) The currency conversion used in this Decision is EUR 1 = CZK . . 28,43 (as at 20 September 2006) and is provided for information (8) On 22 and 30 April 2004 the Czech Office for thﬁ only. Protection of Competition authorised the State aid to TZ.