Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 24 November 2011 – Italy v Commission

(Case C-458/09 P)

Appeal – Aid granted by the Italian authorities in favour of newly listed companies – Legislation granting fiscal advantages

1.                     Procedure – Time-limit for instituting proceedings – Appeals – Copy of the original appeal sent in ‘Word’ format together with a document in ‘PDF’ format bearing the lawyer’s signature – Original sent later within the prescribed period – Admissibility (Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 56; Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, Art. 37(6)) (see paras 25-26)

2.                     State aid – Examination by the Commission – Opening of a formal examination procedure – Duty first to raise the subject of the aid measure with the Member State concerned and examine the situation in the light of the information provided by that State (Art. 88(2) EC) (see paras 47-48)

3.                     State aid – Definition – Selective nature of the measure – Selectivity of a tax relief measure applicable to companies newly listed on the stock exchange arising from its short duration (Art. 87(1) EC) (see paras 56, 60)

4.                     Appeals – Pleas in law – Plea directed against a superfluous ground – Ineffective ground – Challenging of the Commission’s appraisal with regard to the selectivity of State aid – Acknowledgement that one of the criteria of selectivity was met being proved to be free of any error in law – Plea directed against other criteria of selectivity – Ineffective ground (see paras 57-58)

5.                     State aid – Prohibition – Derogations – Aid eligible for the derogation provided for by Article 87(3)(c) EC – Operating aid – Excluded (Art. 87(3)(c) EC) (see paras 63-64)

Re:

Operative part

The Court: