Brussels, 25/07/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has approved State aid granted by Austria to Lenzing Lyocell & Co KG (LLG), one of the world's largest producers of viscose fibres located in Heiligenkreuz (Burgenland), for investments into a new viscose fibres production plant. The formal examination procedure was begun on 14 October 1998 and continued to 23 June 1999; it concerned aid for a total of 138 million euro, divided into different forms. LLG built the beneficiary plant in the framework of a cross-border Austro-Hungarian project so as to produce Lyocell, a new type of man-made staple fibre produced from natural cellulose in wood pulp. The business park of Heiligenkreuz-Szentgothard on which the plant was built is in the land of Burgenland, the only Austrian region to come under Article 87, para. 3 point a) of the Treaty (regions in which living standards are abnormally low and in which there is great unemployment).
So as to assess the aid granted, the Commission analysed a whole series of measures and concluded that: I) some of them could not be considered as State aid; ii) others conformed to aid schemes already approved; iii) the remaining regional aid and aid to environmental protection satisfied the relevant Community directives. The Commission also turned to the intensity of the aid to ensure that the total amount did not exceed the 40% ceiling applicable to regional aid in Burgenland. Intensity amounting to 37%, the Commission decided to approve the aid to LLG.