Appeal brought on 25 August 2022 by LSEGH (Luxembourg) Ltd, London Stock Exchange Group Holdings (Italy) Ltd against the judgment of the General Court (Second Chamber, Extended Composition) delivered on 8 June 2022 in Joined Cases T-363/19 and T-456/19, United Kingdom and ITV v Commission

(Case C-564/22 P)

(2022/C 441/15)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Appellants: LSEGH (Luxembourg) Ltd, London Stock Exchange Group Holdings (Italy) Ltd (represented by: A. von Bonin, Rechtsanwalt, O.W. Brouwer and A. Pliego Selie, advocaten)

Other parties to the proceedings: European Commission, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, ITV plc

Form of order sought

The appellants claim that the Court should:

Pleas in law and main arguments

In support of the appeal, the appellants rely on five pleas in law:

First, the General Court erred in law by distorting national law and overlooking evidence in identifying the reference system as the United Kingdom CFC (controlled foreign companies) rules in Part 9A of the Taxation (International and Other Provisions) Act 2010 (the ‘TIOPA’), rather than the United Kingdom corporate taxation system of which they form an inseparable part.

Second, even if the reference system would be the United Kingdom CFC rules, the General Court erred in law in identifying the objective of the reference system, and consequently erred in identifying the provisions in Chapter 5 of the United Kingdom CFC rules as determining the ‘normal’ taxation of non-trading finance profits such that the ‘group financing exemption’ in Chapter 9 of Part 9A of the TIOPA would confer an ‘advantage’.

Third, the General Court erred in law in relation to the finding of a selective advantage. In particular, the General Court erred in law by incorrectly concluding that economic operators, which were able to benefit from the ‘group financing exemption’ in Chapter 9 of Part 9A of the TIOPA, were in a comparable legal and factual situation with companies, which were not.

Fourth, the General Court infringed Article 263 TFEU and Article 296 TFEU because it failed to address pleas in law and breached its duty to state reasons, because the General Court substituted its own reasoning for the reasoning of the Commission in the contested decision.

Fifth, the General Court erred in law in concluding that the ‘group financing exemption’ in Chapter 9 of Part 9A of the TIOPA is not justified by the nature or overall structure of the reference system.

(1)  OJ 2019 L 216, p. 1.