Brussels, 21/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - After indepth formal review procedure opened in September 2003, the European Commission said on Tuesday that an aid regime established by renewal, in 2002, of a 2001 Italian law in favour of companies that invest in areas hit by natural disasters, was not compatible with Community rules on State aid. The law aimed at compensating companies which, in 2002, had suffered from eruptions from Etna in the province of Catania, earthquakes in the province of Campobasso and floods in Liguria, Lombardy, Piemonte, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giula and Emilia Romagna. The detailed examination, a press release states, shows that the aid mechanisms foreseen by the Italian law have no connection with the injury effectively caused, although the Commission does admit that "some individual aid schemes granted on the basis of the regime could meet the conditions of compatibility".