Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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1 . Aids granted by States - Concept - Interest rebate on export credits - Inclusion - Appraisal by Commission for the purposes of the rules on agriculture - Irrelevant

( EEC Treaty, Art . 92 )

2 . Member States - Obligations - Exercise of powers retained in the monetary field - Unilateral measures prohibited by the Treaty - Not permissible

3 . Aids granted by States - Concept - Aid not deriving from State resources - Aid granted through public or private bodies - Inclusion

( EEC Treaty, Art . 92 )

4 . Aids granted by States - Commission decision determining the incompatibility of an aid with the common market - Duty to state reasons - Necessary information

( EEC Treaty, Arts 92 and 190 )

Summary

1 . An interest rebate on export credits whose effect is to afford export undertakings an economic advantage by reducing the costs incurred by them in respect of sales on the markets of other Member States constitutes an aid within the meaning of Article 92 of the Treaty . That classification is unaffected by any appraisal of the rebate made by the Commission for the purpose of applying the Community rules on agriculture .

2 . The exercise by the Member States of the powers retained by them in the monetary field does not permit them unilaterally to adopt measures which are prohibited by the Treaty .

3 . An aid need not necessarily be financed from State resources to be classified as a State aid . Article 92 covers all aid granted by States or through State resources and there is no necessity to draw any distinction according to whether the aid is granted directly by the State or by public or private bodies established or appointed by it to administer the aid .

4 . Even though the very circumstances in which the aid is granted may be sufficient to show that the aid is capable of affecting trade between Member States or of distorting or threatening to distort competition, the Commission must nevertheless set out those circumstances in the statement of reasons for its decision . That requirement is satisfied where the decision contains a sufficiently explicit and detailed statement of reasons for it to be inferred that the Commission was legally entitled to take the view that, in so far as it placed export undertakings in a more advantageous position than that of other traders not benefiting from such action, an interest rebate on export credits was indeed capable of affecting trade between Member States and distorting competition .