Keywords
Summary

Keywords

Actions for annulment — Actionable measures — Definition — Measures producing binding legal effects — Assessment of those effects in relation to the substance of the measure — Informal letter from the Commission responding to a Member State ' s informal initiative — Exclusion — (Art. 230 EC)

Summary

The mere fact that a letter is sent by a Community institution to its addressee in response to a request made by the latter is not enough for it to be treated as a decision within the meaning of Article 230 EC, thereby entitling its recipient to bring an action for its annulment. Furthermore, only measures with binding legal effects capable of affecting the interests of the applicant by bringing about a distinct change in his legal position, are capable of being the subject-matter of an application for annulment under Article 230 EC. To determine whether an act or decision produces such effects, it is necessary to look to its substance.

A Commission reply to a letter from the authorities of a Member State cannot be interpreted as an act in the nature of a decision where it is clear from their form and content and from the identity of their authors that that letter and that reply are only the expression, respectively, of an informal initiative on the part of those authorities seeking to obtain, at the end of an unofficial review, an amendment to a Commission decision declaring State aid compatible with the common market, and a reply, also informal, to that initiative, formulated by the Commission ' s staff with responsibility for State aid.

see paras 42-45