On Thursday, 31 October, the European Commission opened an in-depth investigation to assess whether two support measures totalling €39 million awarded by Poland to chemical company PCC MCAA Sp. Zo.o ('PCC') to enable it to invest in a new plant in Poland are in line with EU rules on regional State Aid.
The Commission has doubts about whether the measures taken by Poland to promote PCC are in line with EU State Aid rules.
The Commission also doubts that there is evidence to suggest that the aid package had an ‘incentive effect’. The Commission will investigate whether the public support gave PCC a real incentive to invest in Brzeg Dolny and whether, in the absence of support, it would still have invested in the region. The Commission is concerned that the overall amount of aid may have exceeded the maximum amount allowed. It also appears that the market for ultra-pure monochloroacetic acid ('MCAA') was in decline when the support measures were granted.
At this stage, therefore, the Commission cannot exclude the possibility that the aid measures have contributed to a substantial increase in PCC's production capacity in an underperforming market, possibly distorting competition in the market.
In 2012-2013, Poland granted public support to PCC for investing in a new plant with an annual production capacity of 42 kilotonnes (kt) of MCAA in Brzeg Dolny. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)