Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1 Actions for annulment - Time-limits - Point from which time starts to run - Date of publication - Date on which the measure came to the applicant's knowledge - Subsidiary criterion

(EC Treaty, Art. 93(2) (now Art. 88(2) EC) and Art. 173, fifth para. (now, after amendment, Art. 230, fifth para., EC))

2 State aid - Prohibited - Derogations - Aid that may be considered compatible with the common market - Discretion of the Commission - Judicial review - Limits - Legality to be assessed on the basis of the elements of fact and of law existing at the time when the decision was adopted

(EC Treaty, Art. 92(3) (now, after amendment, Art. 87(3) EC) and Art. 173 (now, after amendment, Art. 230 EC))

3 State aid - Prohibited - Derogations - Aid that may be considered compatible with the common market - Aid for restructuring an undertaking in difficulty - Assessment as to whether planned restructuring measures are adequate

Summary

1 According to the actual wording of the fifth paragraph of Article 173 of the Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 230 EC), the criterion of the day on which a measure came to the knowledge of an applicant, as the starting point for the period prescribed for instituting proceedings, is subsidiary to the criteria of publication or notification of the measure.

Since the Commission has committed itself to publishing in the Official Journal of the European Communities the complete text of decisions granting conditional authorisation for State aid adopted at the end of the procedure provided for by Article 93(2) of the Treaty (now Article 88(2) EC), time for the purposes of bringing proceedings starts to run as from the date of publication of the decision.

2 The Commission enjoys a broad discretion in the application of Article 92(3) of the Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 87(3) EC). Since that discretion involves complex economic and social appraisals, the Court must, in reviewing a decision adopted in such a context, confine its review to determining whether the Commission complied with the rules governing procedure and the statement of reasons, whether the facts on which the contested finding was based are accurately stated and whether there has been any manifest error of assessment or any misuse of powers. In particular, it is not for the Court to substitute its own economic assessment for that of the Commission.

In the context of an action for annulment under Article 173 of the Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 230 EC), the legality of a Community measure falls to be assessed on the basis of the elements of fact and of law existing at the time when the measure was adopted. In particular, the complex assessments made by the Commission must be examined solely on the basis of the information available to it at the time when those assessments were made.

3 The question whether or not measures for restructuring an undertaking in difficulty are adequate depends above all on the undertaking's individual situation.