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Document 62016TJ0720

    Judgment of the General Court (Ninth Chamber) of 29 November 2018.
    Aziende riunite filovie ed autolinee Srl (ARFEA) v European Commission.
    State aid — Retroactive public service compensation granted by the Italian authorities — Regional bus transport service provided between 1997 and 1998 on the basis of concessions — Decision declaring the aid incompatible with the internal market and ordering its recovery — Altmark judgment — Temporal application of rules of substantive law.
    Case T-720/16.

    Court reports – general – 'Information on unpublished decisions' section

    Judgment of the General Court (Ninth Chamber) of 29 November 2018 –
    ARFEA v Commission

    (Case T‑720/16)

    (State aid — Retroactive public service compensation granted by the Italian authorities — Regional bus transport service provided between 1997 and 1998 on the basis of concessions — Decision declaring the aid incompatible with the internal market and ordering its recovery — Altmark judgment — Temporal application of rules of substantive law)

    1. 

    Judicial proceedings — Application initiating proceedings — Formal requirements — Brief summary of the pleas in law on which the application is based — Absence — Inadmissibility

    (Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 21, first para.; Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 76(d))

    (see para. 64)

    2. 

    State aid — Respective powers of the Commission and the national courts — Role of the national courts — Principle of res judicata — Inapplicability of the principle of res judicata to the Commission’s exercise of its exclusive competence to review the compatibility of State aid

    (Arts 107(1) TFEU and 108(3) TFEU)

    (see paras 68-70)

    3. 

    State aid — Concept — Measures designed to compensate for the cost of public service missions undertaken by an undertaking — Not included — Conditions set out in the Altmark judgment — Cumulative nature

    (Art. 107(1) TFEU)

    (see paras 73-79, 111)

    4. 

    Competition — Undertakings entrusted with the operation of services of general economic interest — Definition of services of general economic interest — Member States' discretion — Limits — Review by the Commission only in the event of manifest error

    (Arts 106(2) TFEU and 107(1) TFEU)

    (see paras 87, 88)

    5. 

    EU law — Principles — Protection of legitimate expectations — Limits — Application of new rules to the future effects of situations arising during the period of application of previous rules

    (see paras 122, 123)

    6. 

    Transport — Aid for transport — Regulation No 1370/2007 — Temporal application — Application to aid paid as from the entry into force of the regulation, subject to transitional provisions

    (Arts 107(1) TFEU and 108(3) TFEU; European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1370/2007; Council Regulation No 1191/69)

    (see paras 132, 133, 136)

    7. 

    State aid — Existing aid and new aid — Compensation for public service obligations concerning regional transport — Exemption from the obligation to notify laid down in Article 17(2) of Regulation No 1191/69 — Measure which fails to comply with the substantive criteria laid down in that regulation — Classification as new aid — Prior notification obligation

    (Art. 108 TFEU; Council Regulation No 1191/69, Art. 17(2))

    (see paras 153-168)

    8. 

    State aid — Recovery of unlawful aid — 10-year limitation period — Point from which the limitation period starts to run — Date on which aid granted to the beneficiary — Date likely to vary in accordance with the nature of the aid in question — Aid granted by way of a national court decision — Date of award corresponding to the date of delivery of that decision

    (Art. 108(2) TFEU; Regulation 2015/1589, Art. 17)

    (see paras 171-187)

    9. 

    Acts of the institutions — Temporal application — Procedural rules — Application to proceedings pending at the time when such rules enter into force

    (Council Regulation 2015/1589, Art 17)

    (see paras 172, 173)

    Re:

    Action under Article 263 TFEU seeking annulment of Commission Decision (EU) 2016/2084 of 10 June 2016 concerning State Aid SA.38132 (2015/C) (ex 2014/NN) — additional PSO compensation for ARFEA (OJ 2016 L321, p. 57).

    Operative part

    The Court:

    1. 

    Dismisses the action;

    2. 

    Orders Aziende reunite filovie ed autolinee Srl (ARFEA) to pay the costs.

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