28. 3. 96 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 78/31 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 31 October 1995 concerning State aid granted by the Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg, a regional authority of the Federal Republic of Germany, to the ECSC steel undertaking Hamburger Stahlwerke GmbH, Hamburg (Only the German text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (96/236/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 3855/91/ ECSC of 27 November 1991 establishing Community rules for aid to the steel industry ('), Having given notice to the other Member States and the parties concerned to submit their comments, in accor- dance with Article 6 (4) of that Decision, Having regard to the comments received, Whereas: On 6 July 1994, the Commission decided to initiate proceedings under Article 6 (4) of Decision No 3855/91/ ECSC (the ‘Steel Aid Code’) with respect to various finan- cial measures taken by the Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg (hereinafter referred to as ‘FHH’) in favour of the steel undertaking Hamburger Stahlwerke GmbH (hereinafter referred to as ‘HSW’). It concluded, on the basis of the information provided by the German Govern- () OJ No L 362, 31. 12. 1991, p. 7. ment, that a DM 20 million loan by the public Hambur- gische Landesbank Girozentrale (hereinafter referred to as ‘HLB’) to the shareholders of Protei Produktionsbeteiligu- ngen GmbH & Co. KG (hereinafter referred to as ‘Protei’) and a DM 130 to 184 million credit line, including a DM 10 million swing, for HSW granted by HLB between 1984 and 1994 may have represented State aid incompa- tible with the Steel Aid Code and the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (hereinafter referred to as ‘the ECSC Treaty)). The Commission informed the German Government, by letter dated 14 July 1994, of its decision to initiate proceedings, and requested its comments and such addi- tional information as it might consider relevant. The reply of the German authorities dated 8 September 1994 contained some additional information concerning the financial measures in question and various arguments to back the position of the German Government that these measures did not constitute aid (for a full description of the German Government’s position as explained in its communications related to this case, see Section III of this Decision). The letter by which the Commission informed the German authorities of its decision to initiate proceedings was published in the Official Journal of the European Communities (%, inviting the other Member States and interested third parties to submit their comments. (3 OJ No C 293, 21. 10. 1994, p. 3.