20.6.2003 Official Journal of the European Union L 153/49 COMMISSION DECISION of 13 November 2002 on the State aid which Germany is planning to implement for Capro Schwedt GmbH (notified under document number C(2002) 4364) (Only the German version is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2003/439/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 the provisions cited above (!) and having regard to their comments, Whereas: I. PROCEDURE On 3 August 2001, the German authorities notified an aid proposal for an investment project in the town of Schwedt, Brandenburg, to be led by a new company Capro Schwedt GmbH (Capro Schwedt) and including three other companies. The notification was made under the multisectoral framework on regional aid for large investment projects (%) (MSF), in view of the level of the proposed aid and of the investment cost. By letter dated 17 January 2001, the Commission informed Germany that it had decided to initiate the procedure laid down in Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty in respect of the aid. Germany sent its comments by letter dated 17 April 2002. 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. () OJ C 63, 12.3.2002, p. 18 () 0J C 107, 7.4.1998, p. 7. (%) See footnote 1. 4) The Commission received three sets of comments from interested parties, which it forwarded to Germany. Germany gave its reaction to these comments by letters dated 20 June 2002 and 14 August 2002. II. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE MEASURE 1. The beneficiary and the project The investment is planned to take place in Schwedt, Germany, an industrial town dominated by an existing petrol refinery, around which the local authorities want to centre its industrial redeployment, transforming the area into a big chemical complex. A public infrastructure company, Infra Schwedt GmbH, was created by the city, which is to re-deploy part of the land in the vicinity of the refinery for use by potential chemical companies. The chemical complex is to be developed in five steps, of which the caprolactam project is the first. Capro Schwedt GmbH is a new company owned by Aquafil, an Italian synthetic fibre producer. Caprolactam constitutes the main raw material for the production of synthetic fibres and, at present, Aquafil buys it from chemical producers. Aquafil decided to integrate its production chain and start producing caprolactam itself. Together with Capro Schwedt, the main investor, three other companies, who will supply some of the necessary products/services for the production of caprolactam, will be established in its direct vicinity. These companies (hereinafter referred to as supplying companies) and their respective production are: AmmoSulf GmbH (oleum/sulphuric acid), CycloChem GmbH (cyclohexane) and P&F Flockungsanlage Service and Medien GmbH (hydrogen). At present they are only ‘project companies’, owned by the public authorities. Germany has, however, communicated the names of three big companies that would be interested in buying them, but will join the project only after the Commission approves the aid for the whole project. These acquiring companies would be Krebs-Speichim SA