Existing Aid/New Aid: The ECJ lays down the duties incumbent on the Commission whenever it opens a formal investigation under Article 88(2) EC if the Member State concerned alleges either that the measures in question do not constitute State aid (Italy/Commisson)

*This article is an automatic translation of the original article, provided here for your convenience. Read the original article. – 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 important interlocutory judgment of the Court of Justice of 9 October 2001 (Italy v Commission, C-400/99, ECR p. I-7303), in which the Court recognised the legal effects of the fact that the Commission is initiating the formal procedure by classifying a State measure as new aid. In its judgment of 10 May 2005, in which the case was decided on the merits, the Court, having