L 183/46 Official Journal of the European Union 13.7.2007 COMMISSION DECISION of 7 March 2007 on State aid C 41/2004 (ex N 221/2004) Portugal Investment aid to ORFAMA, Organiza¢io Fabril de Malhas S.A. (notified under document number C(2007) 638) (Only the Portuguese version is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2007/494[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 those provisions () and having regard to their comments, Whereas: I. PROCEDURE By letter of 5 May 2004 (registered as received on 19 May), Portugal notified the Commission of its intention to provide aid to Organizagio Fabril de Malhas S.A. (hereinafter ‘ORFAMA’) in order to help finance an investment by the company in Poland. The Commission requested further information by letter of 15 July 2004, to which Portugal replied by letter of 30 September 2004 (registered as received on 5 October). By letter of 6 December 2004, the Commission informed Portugal that it had decided to initiate the procedure laid down in Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty in respect of the aid. By letter of 4 February 2005 (registered as received on 9 February), the Portuguese authorities presented their comments in the context of the above-mentioned procedure. The Commission decision to initiate the procedure was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (2). The Commission called on interested parties to submit their comments. There were no comments from third parties. () O] C 14, 20.1.2005, p. 2. () See footnote 1. [I. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE AID The beneficiary ORFAMA is a producer of fashion knitwear located in Braga, a region falling under Article 87(3)(a) of the EC Treaty. It was set up in 1970. It has 655 employees and an annual turnover of about EUR 25 million. It owns 45 % of another garment producer ‘Marrantex’. The company sells most of its products in the European Union (50 %), the United States and Canada (38 %) and Japan (5 %) ). The project The project consists in the acquisition of two textile companies, Archimode SP and Wartatex SP, located in Lodz, Poland. Both companies are involved in clothing production. ORFAMA started working with the Polish companies in 1995 under a subcontracting arrangement whereby these companies accounted for some 30 % of ORFAMA's turnover. ORFAMA then decided to consolidate its presence in Poland and in Eastern European markets by acquiring the two Polish companies. The Portuguese authorities noted that ORFAMA will maintain the capacity currently installed in Portugal without relocating activities to Poland. The objective of the project is to raise the volume of production, to free up capacity in Portugal for the manufacture of higher- value-added products and to gain access to the German and Eastern European markets. The Portuguese authorities considered that this project would contribute to strengthening the competitiveness of the textile industry in the European Union, given that both ORFAMA and the Polish companies face mounting competition from Asian countries, in particular China. The project was completed in December 1999. () All figures as provided in the notification.