Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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1. Actions for annulment ° Natural or legal persons ° Measures of direct and individual concern to them ° Commission decision addressed to a Member State finding a State aid compatible with the common market ° Action by the parties concerned within the meaning of Article 93(2) of the Treaty ° Admissibility

(EEC Treaty, Arts 93(2) and (3) and Art. 173, second para.)

2. State aid ° Proposed aid ° Examination by the Commission ° Preliminary stage and stage at which the parties have an opportunity to state their case ° Compatibility of aid with the common market ° Difficulties involved in making an assessment ° Obligation on the part of the Commission to initiate the procedure in which the parties have an opportunity to state their case

(EEC Treaty, Arts 93(2) and (3))

Summary

1. The Court has consistently held that persons other than those to whom a decision is addressed may claim to be concerned within the meaning of the second paragraph of Article 173 only if that decision affects them by reason of certain attributes which are peculiar to them or by reason of circumstances in which they are differentiated from all other persons and by virtue of these factors distinguishes them individually just as in the case of the person addressed.

Where, without initiating the procedure under Article 93(2), the Commission finds, on the basis of Article 93(3), that a State aid is compatible with the common market, the persons, undertakings or associations whose interests might be affected by the grant of the aid, in particular competing undertakings and trade associations which, as parties concerned, benefit from procedural guarantees when the Article 93(2) procedure is set in motion, must have the right to bring an action for the annulment of the decision making that finding.

2. The procedure under Article 93(2) is essential whenever the Commission has serious difficulties in determining whether an aid is compatible with the common market. The Commission may restrict itself to the preliminary examination under Article 93(3) when taking a decision in favour of an aid only if it is able to satisfy itself after the preliminary examination that the aid is compatible with the Treaty. If, on the other hand, the initial examination leads the Commission to the opposite conclusion or if it does not enable it to overcome all the difficulties involved in determining whether the aid is compatible with the common market, the Commission is under a duty to obtain all the requisite opinions and for that purpose to initiate the procedure provided for in Article 93(2).

Although the obligation to initiate that procedure does not depend on the circumstances in which the aid is notified or on the provision of Article 92 of the Treaty which is applied, it is for the Commission to determine, subject to review by the Court, on the basis of the factual and legal circumstances of the case, whether the difficulties involved in assessing the compatibility of the aid warrant the initiation of that procedure.