Elias Berkani is a partner at Schmitt Avocats. Elias advises on all aspects of French Public Business and Economic Law (public procurements, utilities and regulated industries, public bodies economical interventions, privatizations) and Competition Law (Anticompetitive practices, in particular from public bodies, and state aids). He graduated from the Public Business Law Institute (University of Paris-Sud Sceaux and Paris Bar, 2002) and has a DEA in Public Business Law (University Paris-X Nanterre, 2000) and a DESS in Economic Public Sector Law (University Paris-I Panthéon-Sorbonne, 1999). He has been admitted at the Paris Bar in 2003. He speaks fluent French and English and reads Italian.
2270
The commented decision presents a new important step regarding the integration of competition rules into French administrative law and its consequences for administrative litigation rules. It also puts an end to an important dispute opposing SNCF, the French public railways operator, and (...)
7253
By a decision of 5 October 2004, the Administrative Court of Appeal of Paris classified as a State aid the subsidies granted by the French State to the Centre d’Exportation du Livre Français (“CELF”), entity created at the end of the 70’s to contribute to the diffusion of French-language books (...)
4927
By a decision of 27 February 2006, the Conseil d’Etat, the French Administrative Supreme Court, definitively closed the case concerning the conditions under which a new route between Strasbourg and London was opened and exploited by the low cost airline company Ryanair (hereafter “Ryanair”). The (...)
4624
By a decision of 23 January 2006, the Administrative Court of Appeal of Paris condemned the French State for having implemented a measure classified as State aid before the European Commission completes its examination procedure of the compatibility of the measure with the Common Market, in (...)
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By decision of 25 October 2005, the Administrative Court of Appeal of Douai ruled that the use of the Tax on certain advertising expenses, which mainly finance the Found for Modernization of the Daily Press for general and political information, is a state aid in the meaning of Article 87 EC (...)
4879
By a judgement of 3 May 2005, the Administrative Court of Pau (“Tribunal administratif de Pau”) confirmed that regional airports managers face serious legal difficulties when they plan to create new international routes with the help of low cost airline companies by according them substantial (...)
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By decision of 14 December 2004, the French Cour de Cassation referred to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary ruling concerning the classification as state aid of the contribution instituted by Article L. 245-6-1 of the Social Security Code and the way to obtain its (...)
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By decision of 16 November 2004, the French Supreme Court, the Cour de Cassation, referred to the ECJ for a preliminary ruling, under Article 234 EC, concerning the classification as state aid of the French mutual assistance tax for the benefit of traders and craftsmen (the Tax). This Tax, (...)
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By decision of 5 October 2004, the Administrative Court of Appeal of Paris applied Article 93(3) EC Treaty (today Article 88 EC) and ordered the reimbursement of aids paid without beforehand notification to the European Commission. The French Court also applied the principles and criteria set (...)
6155
The history of this "Stardust" saga, an intricate case mixing national and EC decisions and judgements, can be summarized as follows. Background In 1997, the public company CDR SA, a defeasance vehicle set up for managing the liabilities of the former public bank Crédit Lyonnais, sold (...)
5016
One of the hottest topics these last months in the field of state aid is the conditions by which regional airports decided the opening of new international routes with the help of low cost airline companies. In France, the first important case took place in Strasbourg and concerned the opening (...)
6199
On the 10 February 2000, the French Parliament enacted an obligation to purchase electricity produced by installations of renewable energies not exceeding 12 megawatts while adopting the Law relating to the development and the modernization of the public service of the electricity. This Law (...)
4308
This French State’s Council case Syndicat National de l’Industrie Pharmaceutique is well known for its contribution to the relationship between EC law and French law. In this ruling, the State’s Council established the supra-legislative value of the general principles resulting from EC law (see (...)
4619
Since its inception, the principle of a copyright levy sitting on magnetic and numerical audio-visual supports into which copy works can be protected by copyright has confronted unions of performers, producers, copyrights owners and unions of manufacturers of these supports. One of the (...)
4357
Between June 1982 and August 1984, the French State granted financial support to Boussac Saint Frères, a company active in the textile and clothing sector. These financial contributions took the form of (i) a participation in the capital of the company by the Institut de développement industriel (...)
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1. During a competition workshop organised on 5 June 2002 by the DGGCRF on the subject of public procurement and competition, Mr Noël Diricq, head of the regulation and security department, closed the discussions as follows: "The question of the link between competition and public procurement (...)
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