Jean-Yves Chérot

CJEU, 20 October 2010, Commission v. France, Case C-549/09 This case is a further illustration of the prevarication of a Member State in the performance of its obligations to recover incompatible and unlawfully paid aid as a defence which a Member State in question knows full well is not (...)

CJEU, 17 November 2011, Commission v. Italy, Case C-496/09 An action for failure to fulfil obligations The case before the Court shows once again how difficult it is for States to recover incompatible and unlawfully granted aid when it comes to implementing a Commission decision on a general (...)

CJEU, 15 November 2011, Commission and Spain v. Government of Gibraltar and United Kingdom, cases C-106/09 P and C-107/09 P. The issue of selectivity of State aid in the context of the fight against harmful tax competition ---- This is an important judgment on the concept of selectivity of (...)

CJEU, 21 December 2011, A2A v Commission, Case C-318/09 P CJEU, 21 December 2011, ACEA v Commission, Case C-319/09 P CJEU, 21 December 2011, A2A v Commission, Case C-320/09 P Appeals against the judgments of the Court of First Instance of 11 June 2009 (obs. J.-Y. C. Concurrences No. (...)

UECG, 20 October 2011, Eridania Sadam v. Commission, Case T-579/08 Interpretation of the Guidelines for State aid in the agriculture sector ---- This case enables the Court of First Instance to clarify the meaning of certain provisions of the Guidelines for State aid in the agriculture (...)

EC, 9 November 2011, Stop Hôtel Villeneuve d’Ascq, n° 323273 Final consumers of electricity installed on the national territory participate, as a contribution to the national public electricity service, in the financing of the additional production costs borne by electricity operators in (...)

CAA Marseille, 7 November 2011, Corsica Ferries, n° 08MA01604 Corsica Ferries, a competitor of SNCM and CNM for the transport of passengers between Corsica and the mainland, asked the administrative court to annul the maritime public service delegation agreement for which SNCM and CNM were (...)

Trib. EU, 14 February 2012, Electrolux and Whirlpool v Commission, Joined Cases T-115/09 and T-116/09 The Court of First Instance annuls for manifest errors of assessment the decision by which the Commission declared compatible with the internal market the aid which the French State planned (...)

Eur. Comm., dec. C(2012) 152 final, 25 January 2012, public service compensation measures for La Poste - France, case SA.34027 In this interesting decision, the Commission decides not to initiate the formal investigation procedure and to declare compatible with the internal market on the (...)

CE, 30 December 2011, CELF, No. 274923 On 30 December 2011, the Conseil d’État delivered a judgment which puts an end to the litigation initiated before the administrative court by the appeal of the Société Internationale de Diffusion et d’Édition (SIDE) lodged in 1995 before the (...)

Eur. Comm. 13 July 2011, decision to initiate the procedure laid down in Article 108(2), State aid for the Marseille-Provence airport and the airlines using the airport, case SA .22932, OJ C334, 15 November 2011, p. 8. It should be noted that the Commission has taken an interesting decision (...)

Trib. UE, 12 May 2011, Région Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Others v Commission, Joined Cases T-267/08 and T-279/08 The decision of the Court of First Instance of 12 May 2011, Région Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Communauté d’agglomération du Douaisis v. Commission (Cases T-267/08 and T-279/08) is (...)

CJEU, 14 April 2011, Commission v. Poland, Case C-331/09 The argumentation in cases brought before the Court on State failure to fulfil its obligations is extremely constrained. The defending State cannot invoke the possible unlawfulness of a Union act and here of the Commission’s decision. (...)

Trib. UE, 24 March 2011, Freistaat Sachsen and Land Sachsen-Anhalt v Commission, Case T-443/08, Mitteldeutsche Flughafen and Flughafen Leipzig-Halle v Commission, Case T-455/08 The question of financing airport infrastructure brought before the Court of Justice for the first time The question (...)

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, "Reform of the EU State Aid Rules on Services of General Economic Interest", COM(2011) 146 final, 23 March 2011 There is renewed interest in (...)

EC, 16 February 2011, FHP-MCO Union, No. 339029 The main source of financing for the hospital sector in France is made up of health insurance credits calculated, on the basis of the principle of activity-based pricing, from "tariffs" for hospitalisation services set each year by the (...)

CJEU, 16 December 2010, AceaElectrabel v Commission, Case C-480/09 P The Court applies the so-called "Deggendorf" case-law according to which the Commission is competent to suspend the authorisation of new aid which it declares compatible on condition that it reimburses aid previously (...)

Communication from the Commission amending the Community guidelines on State aid to promote risk capital investments in small and medium-sized enterprises, OJEU C 329, 7 December 2010, p. 4. One of the first instruments of SME policy are the ’Guidelines on State aid to promote risk capital (...)

GCEU, 7 December 2010, Frucona Košice v. Commission, T-11/07 In that case, the Court of First Instance examines the conditions under which the Commission was able to reject the application of the market economy private creditor test to the acceptance by the Slovak tax authorities of a (...)

CAA Bordeaux, March 29, 2011, Christophe A, n° 10BX00976 CAA Nancy, April 14, 2011, Spar Video, No. 10NC00178 CAA Lyon, 9 June 2011, Le Temps retrouvé, n° 10LY01772 CAA Paris, November 24, 2010, GPM Italy Tolbiac, n° 10PA00079 and CAA Nantes, 30 December 2010, Yvannof Emmanuel - Club (...)

Trib. EU, 7 October 2010, DHL Aviation and DHL Hub Leipzig v Commission, Case T-452/08 In 2005, after negotiations with several airports, DHL decided to move its European air freight hub from Brussels to Leipzig/Halle, starting in 2008. On this occasion, DHL received several state aid (...)

CJEU, 10 June 2010, Fallimento Traghetti del Mediterraneo, case C-140/09 The case in the main proceedings is already known because it gave rise to a first question referred by the Tribunale di Genova for a preliminary ruling by which the Court was asked whether the Italian law limiting the (...)

General Court, 21 May 2010, France, France Télécom a.o. v. Commission, joined cases T-425/04, T-444/04, T-450/04 and T-456/04 Public statements, attributable to a State, by which a government announces support for an undertaking, in particular a public undertaking, and which may have the (...)

CJUE, May 20, 2010, Scott and Kimberly Clark v. City of Orléans, Case C-210/09 Article 14(1) of Regulation 659/1999 provides that ’where negative decisions are taken in cases of unlawful aid, the Commission shall decide that the Member State concerned shall take all necessary measures to (...)

EC (ord. ref.), 19 March 2010, Air France and others. (Marseille-Provence airport), No 336405 The administrative court has been seised on numerous occasions of the Marseille-Provence airport’s fee-charging policy designed to make the new terminal dedicated to low-cost airlines attractive to (...)

Eur. Comm., dec. C(2010) 975 final, 24 February 2010, Public service contracts between the Danish Government and Dankse Statbaner, case C 41/2008 (ex. NN 35/2008) The Commission had opened a formal investigation procedure on complaints from two passenger transport companies about alleged aid (...)

CAA Nantes, December 28, 2009, SAS Dijori, n° 08NT00890 It will be recalled that in the Auchan judgment (EC 21 December 2006, req n° 288562, ConcurrencesNo. 1-2007, p. 128, obs. J-Y. C.), the Council of State had ruled that the tax on certain advertising expenditure introduced by Article 23 (...)

General Court, 12 December 2009, EDF v. Commission, case T-156/04 The assessment under the State aid rules of the policy of clarifying the status of the assets of EDF’s general supply network and its accounting and tax consequences provides an opportunity for the Court of First Instance to (...)

Eur. Comm, 7 December 2009, State Aid Scoreboard, Autumn 2008 Update, COM(2009) 661 The State Aid Scoreboard is a document that complements information on State aid rules and policies with data to monitor their correct application and progress. The autumn 2009 update focuses on the year 2008 (...)

CJ (EU), ch. gde, 2 December 2009, Commission v. Ireland and Others, Case C-89/08P. From this decision handed down by the Grand Chamber, we will remember in particular (see on other pointsAgnès Maîtrepierre’s commentary in the "Proceedings" column, this review ConcurrencesN° 1-2010) that the (...)

– Communication from the Commission concerning the criteria for an in-depth assessment of Regional aid to large investment projects, OJ C223, 16 September 2009, p. 3. As recalled by the Commission in its Communication under comment, a large investment project is defined by the Guidelines (...)

– CFI, 10 September 2009, Banco comercial dos Açores v Commission, Case T – 75/03 The judgment of the Court of First Instance of 10 September 2009 in Banco comercial dos A çores is a "parallel" decision to that already delivered by the Court of Justice in its judgment of 6 September (...)

EC Commission, Communication on a simplified procedure for treatment of certain types of State aid, OJEU No C. 136 of 16 June 2009, p. 3. EC Commission, Code of Best Practices for the conduct of State aid control procedures, OJEU No C. 136 of 16 June 2009, p. 13. The Commission is continuing (...)

– Communication from the Commission - Criteria for the analysis of the compatibility of State aid for training in cases subject to individual notification, OJEU No C. 188 of 11 August 2009, p. 1. The General Block Exemption Regulation No 800/2008 of 6 August 2008 exempts training aid from (...)

Communication from the Commission. Criteria for the compatibility analysis of state aid to disadvantaged and disabled workers subject to individual notification, OJ C188 of 11 August 2009, p. 6. The Communication on criteria for the analysis of the compatibility of State aid for the (...)

– CE, 27 July 2009, Société Boucherie du marché, n° 31 2098 CE, 27 July 2009, Société Montaudis, n° 3 13502 The levy on meat purchases and then the slaughter levy were the subject of extensive litigation before the administrative court. This tax litigation goes through three (...)

– ECJ, 9 July 2009, 3F, aff. C-3 19/07 The judgment delivered by the Third Chamber of the Court in this case will attract the attention of those examining the case law, which is still difficult, still containing grey areas and still criticised for its complexity, on the admissibility (...)

– ECJ, 7 July 2009, Commission v. Greece, Case C-3 69/07. That judgment, delivered by the Grand Chamber, in Case C-47/99, on the interpretation and application of the rules on State aid, provides elements of substantial interest in the interpretation and application of the rules on (...)

CFI, 11 June 2009, ACEA v Commission, Case T-297/02 CFI, 11 June 2009, AEM v Commission, Case T-301/02 CFI, 11 June 2009, ASM Brescia v Commission, Case T-189/03 CFI, 11 June 2009, Italy v Commission, Case T-222/04 Those four decisions of the Court of First Instance concern the action for (...)

EC. Comm, 3 June 2009, Communication on criteria for the compatibility analysis of state aid to disadvantaged and disabled workers subject to individual notification EC. Comm, 3 June 2009, Communication on criteria for the compatibility analysis of training state aid cases subject to (...)

EC. Comm, 19 May 2009, Consultation on the Commission’s Broadband Guidelines on the application of EU state aid rules to public funding of broadband network The Commission opened a consultation on draft Guidelines on the application of state aid rules to the rapid deployment of broadband (...)

EC Commission, 15 May 2009, Consultation on a working document "Common principles for the economic assessment of the compatibility of State aid under Article 87(3)". In a consultation document, DG Competition attempts to develop in a more concrete, comprehensive and precise manner the (...)

Commission Decision 2009/971/EC of 12 May 2009 on the State aid which Germany intends to grant for the restructuring of WestLB AG, Case C 43/08 (ex N 390/08), OJ L 345, 23.12.2009, p. 1. WestLB is a commercial bank based in North Rhine-Westphalia. As the supervisory bank for the Sparkassen (...)

EC Comm, May 2009, Consultation paper on the aftermath of the expiry of Regulation 1407/2002 on State aid to the coal industry The Commission has decided on a stakeholder consultation in view of the forthcoming expiry of the Coal Regulation on 31 December 2010, taking into account both the (...)

EC Commission, 11 December 2008, Public consultation on a draft Communication - Code of Best Practices for the conduct of State aid control procedures The Commission is consulting until 28 January 2009 on a forthcoming ’Code’ to supplement Regulation 659/1999 of 22 March 1999 laying down (...)

ECJ, 22 December 2008, Régie Networks v. Direction de contrôle fiscal Rhône-Alpes Bourgogne, case C-333/07 In the main proceedings, pending before the Cour administrative d’appel de Lyon, the applicant, Régie Networks, the NRJ group’s advertising agency, applied for discharge of the tax on (...)

ECJ, 22 December 2008, British Aggregates Association v Commission, Case C-487/06P. Here the Court makes an interesting ruling on the selectivity of an aid scheme in the rather particular case of a "specific" measure such as an environmental tax. The United Kingdom has introduced a tax (...)

CFI, 18 December 2008, Government of Gibraltar and United Kingdom v Commission, cases T-211/04 and T-215/04. The Government of Gibraltar is planning to introduce a deeply original corporate tax regime. This system, which was intended to be applicable to all companies established in (...)

EC Comm, 17 November 2008, State Aid Scoreboard, Autumn 2008 Update, COM(2008) 751 final The Commission updates the State Aid Scoreboard twice a year, in spring and autumn. It is a document of immense interest to complement the analysis of aid policy in all its dimensions with statistical (...)

ECJ, 13 November 2008, Commission v. France, Case C-214/07. The effective implementation of Commission decisions ordering Member States to recover unlawful state aid which the Commission has otherwise declared incompatible with the common market is among the Commission’s current concerns in (...)

CFI, 22 October 2008, TV2/Danmark v. Commission, case T-309/04 The Commission recognised the tasks entrusted by Denmark to the public broadcaster TV2 as a service of general economic interest, but considered that the public financing of these tasks involved a lack of transparency and (...)

TABLE OF CONTENTS OPENING REMARKS Mr Jean-Marc SAUVÉ, Vice-President of the Conseil d’Etat Mr Mario MONTI, Former European Commissioner for Competition, President of the Bocconi University of Milan IS STATE AID CONTROL POLICY A COMPETITION POLICY? Introduction: Mrs Marie-Dominique (...)

ECJ, 17 July 2008, Athinaïki Techniki AE v Commission, Case C-521/06 P. This judgment of the Court of Justice deserves attention because it differs so much from the position adopted by the Court of First Instance in opening up the admissibility of the actions of complainants whose complaints (...)

ECJ, 1 July 2008, Chronopost SA, La Poste v Union française de l’Express (UFEX) and Others, cases C-341/06 P and C-342/06 P. The Court’s decision of 1 July 2008 in the reference cases puts an end, at least as regards its "State aid" aspect, to a long history which has marked State aid law (...)

CFI, 1 July 2008, Deutsche Post AG v. Commission, Case T-266/02 This is a new decision formally addressing the question of the qualification of measures presented by the State and by the beneficiary as compensation for additional costs linked to charges for services of general economic (...)

EC. Comm, 25 May 2008, Notice on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to State aid in the form of guarantees, OJ C155, 20 June 2008, p.10. The important revised Commission Communication on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to State aid in the form of (...)

ECJ, 8 May 2008, Ferriere Nord SpA v Commission, Case C-49/05 P This judgment on appeal against thejudgment of the Court of First Instance of 18 November 2004 in Case T-176/01 is noteworthy.The Commission has also provided two general clarifications on the duration of the formal State aid (...)

CE, 7 May 2008, Cooperl Hunaudaye Cooperative and Fédération Syndigel, No. 278820 Here is a new judgment by which the Council of State, on the basis of and with the endorsement of the Pearle judgment (ECJ, 15 July 2004, C-345/02, ECR I-79, Concurrences, No. 1-2004, p. 79, obs. A. A.), the (...)

CFI, 10 April 2008, Netherlands v Commission, Case T-233/04 This is the first judgment concerning the application of State aid rules to environmental regulations included in tradable permit schemes. Until this judgment, we had only a few meagre indications. The Community guidelines on state (...)

CFI, 12 February 2008, BUPA and Others v Commission, Case T-289/03. In that judgment delivered in Extended Composition in a case brought before it in 2003, which therefore took almost five years to adjudicate on, the Court of First Instance delivered an important judgment with a pronounced (...)

We would like to point out, although it is well ahead of the future guidelines that have been announced, this first consultation document on the Community guidelines on State aid to railway undertakings. This document serves as a contribution to a doctrinal clarification on an aid policy in (...)

ECJ, 18 December 2007, Kingdom of Sweden v Commission, Case C-64/05 P The Court of Justice delivered this very important decision in Grand Chamber on appeal against the judgment of 30 November 2004 (Case T-168/02 [2004] ECR II-4135) in which the Court of First Instance dismissed IFAW’s (...)

CFI, 12 December 2007, Ireland, France, Italy a.o. v. Commission, cases T-50/06 a.o. The case is very interesting because it involves linking the system of state aid decisions under the procedures laid down in the Treaty with decisions that the Union institutions may take under other powers, (...)

ECJ, 6 December 2007, Commission v. Italy, Case C-280/05. The judgment of 6 December 2007 in Case C-280/05 contains the Court’s usual reminders of the failure of a State, in this case Italy, to take the necessary measures within the prescribed time limits to abolish and recover from the (...)

Dans cet article, le Professeur Jean-Yves Chérot présente les deux premières séries de résultats du programme de recherche du bulletin e-Competitions dédiés aux décisions juridictionnelles nationales en matière d’aides d’Etat. Le Professeur Chérot et son équipe de chercheurs - universitaires (...)

CAA Paris, 1 October 2007, Boucherie Brodet, n° 06PA03997 CAA Paris, 5 November 2007, SAS Vitry, n° 06PA04277 The aid in the rendering sector and the levy on meat purchases which for a time financed these aid measures gave rise to numerous proceedings before the national courts (mainly for (...)

CFI, 12 September 2007, Italy and Brandt Italia SpA v. Commission, joined cases T-239/04 and T-323/04 By a Decree-Law of 14 February 2003 laying down urgent provisions on employment, converted into a Law of 17 April 2003, Italy adopted an aid scheme in response to the serious employment (...)

CFI, 12 September 2007, Gonzalez y Diez v. Commission, Case T-25/04. The Gonzalez y Diez judgment is of particular interest because it states, in the name of ’the unity and continuity of the Community legal order and its objectives’ and, in particular in the present case, the unity and (...)

EC Commission, Draft Regulation on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty declaring certain categories of aid compatible with the common market (OJEU, No C. 210 of 8 September 2007, p. 14). The Commission launched an invitation to submit comments on the draft General Block (...)

ECJ, 18 July 2007, Lucchini SpA and MICA, case C-119/05 On the basis of a national legislative provision, by a decision which was manifestly and seriously wrong, without regard to the provisions of the Treaty relating to the Commission’s powers in the field of State aid, and even though a (...)

CFI, 20 June 2007, Tirrenia di Navigazione, Case T-246/99. The judgment comes in the action for annulment brought by undertakings (companies in the Tirrenia Group) providing maritime transport between the mainland and Sardinia under contracts with the State involving commitments relating to (...)

CFI, 29 March 2007, Scott SA v Commission, Case T-366/00 Almost ten years after it was granted in 1987, on the basis of a complaint lodged in 1996, itself based on a 1996 report by the French Court of Auditors, the Commission initiated proceedings against France for aid allegedly contained (...)

CFI, 29 March 2007, Département du Loiret v Commission, Case T-369/00 The Commission’s decision of 12 July 2000 concerning the State aid implemented by France for Scott Paper SA was the subject of, in addition to the action for annulment brought by the recipient undertaking against Article 2 (...)

Cass. 2nd civ. 14 March 2007, Glaxosmithkline Laboratory and ACOSS, n° 04-30.053 The saga of the cases brought before the judicial judge by pharmaceutical companies for the restitution of sums paid as a contribution payable by them on the direct sale of medicines to pharmacies (Article L. (...)

This is the second volume of a work on the law of the European Union which opened with a volume devoted to the legal order and institutional law of the Union (The Law of the European Union. A New Constitutional Order. Materials and cases, by Alain A. Levasseur and Richard F. Scott, 2001, 1075 (...)

EC, 21 December 2006, Minister for the Economy, Finance and Industry v. Auchan France, No. 288562 The Conseil d’État was seized of a dispute concerning the refund of the tax on certain advertising expenditure instituted by the 1998 Finance Act and allocated entirely to the fund for the (...)

CFI, 14 December 2006, Technische Glaswerke Ilmenau GmbH v Commission, Case T-237/02 In control procedures under the State aid rules, interested undertakings, whether aid recipients or competitors, and in general all interested parties other than the Member State directly concerned by the (...)

CFI, 12 December 2006, Asociación de Empresarios de Estaciones de Servicio de la Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid a.o. v. Commission, Case T-95/03 By its decision of 12 December 2006 in Case T-95/03, the Court of First Instance adjudicated for the first time in State aid proceedings (see, (...)

CFI, 23 November 2006, Ter Lembeek International NV v. Commission, Case T-217/02 The Court of First Instance examines, after the Commission, the conditions under which the Walloon Region, through the Société de gestion des participations de la région wallonne (Sowagep), accepted, after an (...)

ECJ, 5 October 2006, Transalpine Ölleitung in Österreich Gmbh (TAL) and Others v Finanzlandesdirektion für Tirol and Others, Case C-368/04. By its TAL judgment of 5 October 2006, the Court is led to confirm two well-established case-law decisions. However, the judgment does not lack interest (...)

ECJ, 5 October 2006, Commission v. France, Case C-232/05. Under the principle of the primacy of Community law, national courts (like the administrative authorities themselves) must leave national rules contrary to Community law unapplied. Thus, the Court has been able to require national (...)

ECJ, September 7, 2006, Laboratoires Boiron, Case C-526/04 For the first time, the Court holds that a tax forms an integral part of an aid scheme even though it does not serve directly to finance an aid since it is an asymmetrical tax created to restore equality in competition between (...)

EC, 21 June 2006, Confédération paysanne, No. 271450 With explicit reference to the judgment of the Court of Justice of 15 July 2004 (ECJ, Pearle and others, Case C-345/02, ECR p. 7139; see comment A.), the Court of Justice of the European Communities (ECJ, Pearle and others, Case C-345/02, (...)

ECJ, 15 June 2006, Air Liquide Industries Belgium, cases C-393/04 and C-41/05. This is a new application of the now stabilised and consolidated case-law on the consequences which can be drawn from the illegality of a tax exemption under the provisions of Article 88(3) EC on the system of (...)

CFI, 7 June 2006, UFEX, DHL International, a.o. v. Commission, Case T-613/97 RV The first complaint to the Commission by the trade association (at the time SFEI, now UFEX) alleging State aid under the conditions under which the Post Office provided logistical and commercial assistance to its (...)

ECJ, 1 June 2006, P&O European Ferries, Diputacion Foral de Vizcaya v. Commission, joined cases C-442/03 P and C-471/03 P The case of the purchase of travel vouchers by the Diputacion Fora de Vizcaya to encourage the installation of P&O European Ferries in the port of Bilbao and the (...)

CFI, 10 May 2006, Air One SpA v. Commission, Case T-395/04 The rights that complainants can invoke against the Commission are always delicate to define and implement in the State aid control procedure which normally brings the Commission and the Member State in question into contact. The (...)

The Court clarifies the concept of a normal charge in the case of a shareholder’s exceptional right of withdrawal ECJ, 23 March 2006, Enirisorse, case C-237/04 It is clearly established that any financial intervention by the State which reduces the normal costs borne by undertakings (...)

The proceedings of this colloquium are organised in two parts. In the first stage, the two main axes of the reform are studied: In substantive terms, the aim of the Community reform is to introduce a more economic analysis of aid in this area too. Following the presentation made by Ms Rabassa (...)

EC, 27 February 2006, Ryanair, n° 264406 The Conseil d’État points out that, ’while it is the exclusive competence of the Commission to decide, under the supervision of the Court of Justice of the European Communities, whether or not aid of the nature referred to in Article 87 of the Treaty (...)

The Court of Justice of the EC conducts a pedagogical analysis of the legal bases of the Commission’s intervention concerning State aid in the agricultural sector by setting out the methodology for applying the various relevant regulations and applies separately the principle of legitimate (...)

Circular of 26 January 2006 relating to the application at local level of the Community competition rules relating to public aid to companies, JORF n° 26 of 31 January 2006 page 1602 On 26 January 2006, the Prime Minister sent a new circular to the ministers, prefects and general (...)

CAA Paris, January 23, 2006, Groupe Salmon Arc en Ciel, n° 04PA01092 Principles of Member State responsibility The judgment of the Administrative Court of Appeal of Paris (CAA de Paris) is delivered in a case in which it is recognised for the second time (at least in France; see below) that (...)

The Court of Justice of the EC confirms the binding nature of the State aid guidelines which have been accepted by a Member State ECJ, 12 January 2006, Commission v. Luxembourg, Case C-69/05 By the ’Community guidelines for State aid in the agriculture sector’ the Commission requires (...)

ECJ, 10 January 2006, Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze and others. Case C-222/04, not yet published in the ECR. This is one of the first cases in which the Court has had to interpret the concept of "undertaking" in the context of State aid law. The concepts of ’undertaking’ and ’economic (...)

EC Commission, Guidelines on national regional aid for 2007-2013, OJEU No C. 54, 4 March 2006. The Commission was faced with a difficult exercise to adopt the new regional aid guidelines for 2007-2013 to follow the 1998 guidelines which expire at the end of 2006. At the same time, it had to (...)

ECJ, 15 December 2005, Italy v. Commission, case C-66/02 Italy has brought an action for annulment of the Commission’s decision of 11 December 2001 on the State aid scheme implemented by Italy for banks. The aid scheme in question was contained in the legislative decree of 17 May 1999 (...)

ECJ, 15 December 2005, Unicredito Italiano SpA, Case C-148/04. In that case, the Court was seised by a national court of the legality of a Commission decision declaring State aid incompatible with the common market and ordering the recovery of the incompatible aid once it had been unlawfully (...)

ECJ, 27 October 2005, Distribution Casino France SAS and others, cases C-266/04 to C-270/04, C-276/04 and C-321/04 to C-325/04. The Cour d’appel de Lyon and the Tribunal des affaires de sécurité sociale de Saint-Étienne referred to the Court of Justice the question whether the tax on aid to (...)

CFI (ord.), 19 September 2005, Air Bourbon v. Commission, Case T-321/04 This case is interesting because it recalls the principles applicable as regards the starting point for the time limit for appealing against a Commission decision not to raise objections against aid the text of which (...)

EC Comm, Consultation, June 2005, State Aid action plan: Less and better targeted state aid: a roadmap for state aid reform 2005 - 2009 1. In this important document, the Commission proposes guidelines for a comprehensive reform of state aid policy. This reform is based on four main ideas (...)

ECJ, 21 July 2005, Xunta de Galicia, case C-71/04 A question was referred to the Court for a preliminary ruling on the interpretation to be given to Council Directive 90/684 of 21 December 1990 establishing new rules on aid to shipbuilding, adopted on the basis of Article 87(3)(e) EC. The (...)

Commission decides to declare restructuring aid for Imprimerie Nationale compatible with the common market EC Comm, C(2005) 2716, 20 July 2005, Restructuring Aid to the Imprimerie Nationale, case N 370/2004 - France The application of the guidelines on State aid for rescuing and (...)

EC Commission, July 2005, Draft Guidelines on national regional aid EC Commission, August 2005, Revision of the Community guidelines on State aid for environmental protection The initiatives for the implementation of the State aid reform agenda contained in the State Aid Action Plan (see (...)

CFI, 15 June 2005, Regione autonoma della Sardegna v. Commission, case T-171/02 The Commission decided by decision of 13 November 2001 that the draft aid scheme notified by Italy in January 1998 and which the region of Sardinia intended to implement for small agricultural enterprises in (...)

ECJ, 12 May 2005, Commission v. Greece, Case C-415/03. The judgment of the Court was delivered on an action for failure to fulfil obligations brought against Greece for failure to adopt the measures necessary to recover various aid pursuant to a Commission decision of 11 December 2002 (OJEU (...)

ECJ, 10 May 2005, Italy v. Commission, Case C-400/99 Italy’s action against the Commission’s decision of 6 August 1999 to initiate the procedure laid down in Article 88(2) EC in respect of the aid granted to the companies of the Gruppo Tirrenia di Navigazione has already given rise to the (...)

CFI, 18 January 2005, Confédération nationale du Crédit mutuel v. Commission, Case T-93/02 In its decision of 15 January 2002, the Commission took the view that the "measures taken by France in favour of Crédit Mutuel for the collection and management of regulated savings under the "Livret (...)

EC Commission, dec. 2005/941/EC, 1 December 2004, on the State aid which France is planning to implement for Bull The Commission’s decision on the state aid which France is planning to implement for Bull is an application of the rules laid down in the Community guidelines on state aid for (...)

CFI, 1st December 2004, Kronofrance SA v. Commission, case T-27/02 The Multisectoral Framework on regional aid for large investment projects was adopted by the Commission on 16 December 1997 to enable it to correct the over-incentive effect that regional aid schemes can have on large (...)

CFI, 18 November 2004, Ferriere Nord SpA v. Commission, Case T-176/01 The Court of First Instance had before it the question whether an aid project notified to the Commission under a previous framework could be examined by the Commission at the stage of the formal procedure for examining the (...)

CFI, 18 November 2004, Ferriere Nord SpA v. Commission, Case T-176/01 The judgment of the Court of First Instance of 18 November 2004 in the Ferriere case contains an interesting clarification concerning the investment costs which may be the subject of aid authorised by the Commission for (...)

CFI, 14 October 2004, Pollmeier Malchow GmbH v. Commission, Case T-137/02. The judgment of the Court of First Instance in the Pollmeier case is of particular interest because, while recalling that the Commission is bound by the frameworks and communications which it adopts in the field of (...)

EC Comm, 1 October 2004, Community guidelines on State aid for rescuing and restructuring firms in difficulty Aid for rescue and restructuring operations is among the most distortive types of State aid and has been the subject of cases, often very often with very high distortion of (...)

The Commission’s decision of 2 August 2004 on the state aid implemented by France in favour of France Télécom gave rise to a major legal battle over whether statements by a government in support of a public undertaking could be regarded as state aid. The Commission took the view that, since (...)

CFI, 8 July 2004, Technishe Glaswerke Ilmenau GmbH v. Commission, Case T-198/01 The Commission had decided that the waiver by the BvS, the body responsible for restructuring and selling off companies in the former GDR, to a significant part of its the claim in favour of Technishe Glaswerke (...)

CFI, 8 July 2004, Technishe Glaswerke Ilmenau GmbH v Commission, Case T-198/01 In that case the Court rejects the argument that, in the case of aid resulting from the waiver by a creditor of a part of its claim against a company which is thus avoided being put into liquidation, the aid which (...)

ECJ, 29 June 2004, Commission v. Council, case C-110/02 The Council had authorised, at the request of Portugal, aid to farmers to fully compensate them for reimbursements they owed as a result of the order for recovery of previous aid contained in two negative Commission decisions. In the (...)

ECJ, 29 April 2004, Germany v. Commission, Case C-277/00 Here is a judgment which clarifies the principles which should guide the search for the real beneficiary of the aid in the case where the control of Concurrences- RDLC, December 2004 - N°1 86 the original recipient enterprise has been (...)