Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1. Acts of the institutions ° Statement of reasons ° Obligation ° Scope ° Decision classifying as aid a guarantee given by a public authority in favour of an undertaking for the acquisition of a holding in another undertaking

(EC Treaty, Arts 92 and 190)

2. Acts of the institutions ° Statement of reasons ° Obligation ° Scope ° Commission decision assessing an intervention in favour of a shipbuilding undertaking without referring to Directive 90/684

(EC Treaty, Arts 92 and 190; Council Directive 90/684)

3. Acts of the institutions ° Statement of reasons ° Obligation ° Scope ° Commission decision finding aid incompatible with the common market

(EC Treaty, Arts 92 and 190)

Summary

1. The requirements to be satisfied by the statement of reasons depend on the circumstances of each case, in particular the content of the act in question.

In the case of a decision finding a guarantee given by a public authority in favour of an undertaking for the acquisition of a holding in another undertaking, paid for with newly issued shares in the former undertaking, to be incompatible with Article 92 of the Treaty, the Commission, in assessing the total value of the new shares compared with the value of the envisaged holding, cannot merely consider that the stock market price of the former undertaking' s shares is the sole determining factor in valuing the new shares, but must also take account of other factors relating to the intrinsic worth of the undertaking in question and the situation of the market on which it operates.

To apply the criterion of stock market price absolutely and unconditionally, to the exclusion of all other elements, constitutes a purely mechanical exercise which can scarcely be reconciled with the system of the market economy and the economic choices made by undertakings of substantial size guided by prospects of profitability in the longer term.

2. A Commission decision which finds that aid granted to an undertaking operating one of the largest shipyards in the Community and generally known as an undertaking whose activity is orientated towards shipbuilding is incompatible with the common market, whereas the application of Directive 90/684 on aid to shipbuilding might have led to a different assessment, must necessarily explain in its statement of reasons why the application of that directive is to be excluded in the particular case.

3. While the relatively small size of an undertakings' s turnover in the Community does not a priori exclude the possibility that State intervention in its favour constitutes aid, and while in certain cases the very circumstances in which the aid has been granted may show that it is liable to affect trade between Member States and to distort competition, the Commission must at least set out those circumstances in the statement of the reasons for its decision. A decision which contains no information on the situation on the market in question, the relevant undertaking' s share of that market or the position of competing undertakings, and which, with respect to the trade flows between Member States in the products concerned, merely cites the Member States' imports of products falling under certain tariff headings, without determining the relevant undertaking' s share of those imports, does not satisfy those requirements as to its statement of reasons.