Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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Application for interim measures - Application for measures going beyond the scope of the main proceedings and requiring a prima facie assessment of matters not within their purview - Dismissal

(EEC Treaty, Art. 186; Rules of Procedure, Art. 83(2))

Summary

An application for interim measures prohibiting a Member State from paying aid to one of the applicants' competitors and requiring the competitor to refund sums already received must be dismissed where the main application on which it is based seeks the annulment of a Commission decision finding that the aid was not subject to any requirement of prior notification and did not exceed the scope of the regional aid authorized by the Commission.

Such an application exceeds the scope of the main proceedings, which do not concern the compatibility of the aid with the Common Market for the purposes of Article 92 of the Treaty, and seeks to obtain measures which cannot be justified by the need to prevent the judgment in the main proceedings from being deprived of practical effect at the time when it is delivered. Furthermore it is premature inasmuch as, having regard to the content of the decision challenged in the main proceedings, the judge hearing the application for interim measures is not in a position to determine whether a prima facie case has been made out regarding the compatibility of the aid in question with the Common Market.