L 329/30 Official Journal of the European Communities 5.12.2002 COMMISSION DECISION of 17 July 2002 on the State aid which Italy is planning to implement for Acciaierie di Sicilia SpA (notified under document number C(2002) 2594) (Only the Italian text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2002/938/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 Commission Decision No 2496/96/ECSC of 18 December 1996 establishing Community rules for State aid to the steel industry (1), and in particular Article 6(5) 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 (%) and having regard to their comments, Whereas: I. PROCEDURE (1) By letter dated 20 December 2001, registered as received on 21 December, Italy notified the Commission of its intention to grant aid to four projects to be carried out by Acciaerie di Sicilia SpA. (2) By letter dated 15 February 2002, the Commission informed Italy that it had decided to initiate the procedure under Article 6(5) of Decision No 2496/96[ECSC (the Steel Aid Code) in respect of the aid. (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 on the aid. (4) By letter dated 12 April 2002, Italy withdrew its aid notification for all the planned projects except one () O] L 338, 28.12.1996, p. 42. () 0] C 70, 19.3.2002, p. 4. (%) See footnote 2. (acquisition of an installation for the purification of smoke from an electric furnace), which is the subject of this decision. It also informed the Commission that, in view of the deadline of 22 July for the payment of the aid imposed by the Steel Aid Code, only the first instalment of the aid would be paid. By letter dated 17 April 2002, the United Kingdom Steel Association submitted comments on the aid. The Commission forwarded them to Italy, which was given the opportunity to react. Its comments were received by letter dated 16 May. II. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE AID Acciaerie di Sicilia is a steel producer belonging to the Alfa Acciai group. It was set up in May 1998 and remained inactive until March 1999, when it acquired the production plant of Acciaerie Megara, which had been closed since 1996. It reopened the rolling mill in April 1999 and the steel plant in October of that year. The aid is granted by the Ministry of Production Activities under Law No 488/92 on aid in depressed areas. The aid was approved on 9 April 2001, subject to authorisation by the Commission. Following the partial withdrawal of the notification mentioned above (see recital 4), the aid concerns only one project. Granted under Law No 488/92, it is calculated on the basis of a percentage expressed as a net grant equivalent (nge) within the limits of the maximum aid approved by the Commission for the aid scheme in question, according to the size of the firm and the location of the production unit. In the case of Acciaerie di Sicilia, the percentage approved by Italy was 17,5 % nge. This corresponds to EUR 680 000 to be paid in three instalments. However, only one instalment will be paid. Therefore, the actual aid will amount to EUR 220 000.