Legitimate expectations: The ECJ holds that the European Commission may alter its appraisal but must take into consideration the legitimate expectations which may result from former decisions (Forum 187)

*This article is an automatic translation of the original article, provided here for your convenience. Read the original article. ECJ, 22 June 2006, Kingdom of Belgium and Forum 187 ASBL v Commission, cases C-182/03 and C-217/03. The active application of the State aid rules in the tax field is relatively new for the Commission and leads the Commission to classify as State aid measures which were previously deemed to fall within the logic of tax systems and not covered by Article 87(1). The cases of the coordination centres established in Belgium provide a good example in this respect. These coordination centres have long benefited from preferential tax arrangements, which the Commission considered in 1984 and 1987 to be free of aid. However, two factors will lead the Commission