The Berlin Higher Administrative Court issues a ruling which finds that the recovery of aid ordered by the commission in a negative decision can be implemented and enforced unilaterally by German authorities based on public law even in cases in which the aid were granted on the basis of private law

The Berlin-Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court has ruled that a Commission’s negative decision ordering the recovery of aid may be implemented and enforced unilaterally by German authorities by means of an administrative act (i.e. based on public law) even if the aid were granted on the basis of private law (e.g. through a private law contract). Background & facts of the case In 1992, the respondent – the former Treuhandanstalt, a public agency established by the government of the German Democratic Republic to reprivatise/privatise East German enterprises prior to German reunification – sold the shares in K. to K. GmbH. With the approval of the Commission, this privatisation was supported with total aid amounting to EUR 637 million. However, in a subsequent investigation, the

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