23.10.2004   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 262/32


Action brought on 7 July 2004 by Aries Meca against the Commission of the European Communities

(Case T-275/04)

(2004/C 262/62)

Language of the case: French

An action against the Commission of the European Communities was brought before the Court of First Instance of the European Communities on 7 July 2004 by Aries Meca, established in Poissy (France), represented by Jean-Paul Poulain and Jean-Emmanuel Kuntz, lawyers.

The applicant claims that the Court should:

annul the Commission's decision of 16 December 2003, in that Article 1 thereof declared illegal the scheme providing for automatic tax exemption for companies acquiring an undertaking in financial difficulties;

annul the Commission's decision of 16 December 2003, in that Article 5 thereof ordered that the whole of the aid granted under the scheme of Article 44 septies of the Code Général des Impôts be recovered from companies incorporated for the purpose of acquiring an undertaking in financial difficulties;

order the Commission to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments:

The decision which is the subject-matter of this case is the same as that which is challenged in Case T-273/04 Brandt Industries v Commission.

The applicant in this case, Aries Meca, is a company which, by virtue of its acquisition of Aries SAS, benefited from the provisions of the Code Général des Impôts referred to in the contested decision. Its application for annulment is based on a twofold plea that there has been an infringement of both Article 253 of the EC Treaty and Article 14 of Council Regulation (EC) No 659/1999 of 22 March 1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Article 93 of the EC Treaty (1).


(1)  OJ 1999 L 83, p. 1.