Keywords
Summary

Keywords

++++

1. Procedure ° Intervention ° Objection of inadmissibility not raised by the defendant ° Inadmissibility

(Statute of the Court of Justice of the EEC, Art. 37, third para.; Rules of Procedure of the Court, Art. 93(4))

2. Actions for annulment of measures ° Actionable measures ° Acts having definitive legal effects ° Decision refusing to submit a State aid to a procedure for the examination of the compatibility of new aid with the common market

(EEC Treaty, Art. 173)

3. Actions for annulment of measures ° Natural or legal persons ° Acts concerning them directly and individually ° Decision addressed to a Member State excluding a State aid from the scope of the obligation of notification ° Action brought by an association consisting of the main international manufacturers in the sector concerned which played an active role vis-à-vis the Commission with regard to aid in that sector ° Admissibility

(EEC Treaty, Art. 173, second para.)

4. State aid ° Rules applicable to a particular sector set out by the Commission in a communication ("discipline") and accepted by the Member States ° Binding effect ° Implied amendment by an individual decision ° Not permissible ° Creation of a precedent ° Not permissible

Summary

1. According to the third paragraph of Article 37 of the Statute of the Court of Justice of the EEC and Article 93(4) of the Rules of Procedure, the intervener must accept the case as he finds it at the time of his intervention and submissions made in the application to intervene may only have the purpose of supporting the submissions of one of the parties. Consequently, an intervener is not entitled to raise an objection of inadmissibility not set out in the form of order sought by the defendant.

2. Since it amounts to a refusal to initiate the procedure provided for in Article 93(2) of the Treaty, a decision of the Commission that a State aid is not subject to the obligation of notification has definitive legal effects and can be the subject of an action for annulment for the purposes of Article 173 of the Treaty.

3. Although the addressee of the Commission decision that a State aid does not fall within the scope of the obligation of notification laid down by Article 93(3) of the Treaty is the Member State in question, that decision is of direct and individual concern, within the meaning of the second paragraph of Article 173 of the Treaty, to an association whose membership consists of the main international manufacturers in the relevant sector and which has pursued a number of actions connected with the policy of restructuring that sector, in particular, by acting as the Commission' s interlocutor for the purpose of the adoption of the guidelines for aid in that sector, and has, in addition, actively pursued negotiations with the Commission' s departments in connection with the aid in question.

4. The rules applicable to State aid in a particular sector, as set out by the Commission in a communication on its policy in that area ("discipline") and accepted by the Member States, have a binding effect. They constitute a measure of general application and may not be impliedly amended by an individual decision, which cannot be subsequently relied upon, on the basis of the principles of equal treatment and protection of legitimate expectations, in order to justify a further infringement of those rules.