Emissions trading schemes: The CFI issues a first interesting case on the application of the State aid notion to emissions trading schemes (Netherlands)

*This article is an automatic translation of the original article, provided here for your convenience. Read the original article. – 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 aid for environmental protection referred the matter for further clarification. The new guidelines (see this column, C.G.'s commentary.) itself limits itself to saying that 'tradable permit schemes may cover State aid in several forms, for example if the Member State allocates a permit and allowances at a price below their market value'. However, the Framework is less