Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1. State aid ° Prohibition ° Derogations ° Aid to shipbuilding ° Directive 87/167 ° Minimum requirements ° Rules applicable to the fisheries sector set out by the Commission in guidelines ° Account taken of criteria applicable in relation to the common fisheries policy ° Permissible

(EEC Treaty, Arts 42, 92 and 93; Council Directive 87/167)

2. State aid ° Examination by the Commission ° Establishment of a framework for aid in an economic sector ° Rules applicable to the fisheries sector set out by the Commission in guidelines ° Acceptance by the Member States ° Binding effect ° Application to aid for the construction of fishing vessels intended to be operated in the Community fishing fleet

(EEC Treaty, Art. 93(1))

Summary

1. It is clear both from its legal basis, which is Article 92(3)(d) of the EEC Treaty, now Article 92(3)(c) of the EC Treaty, and from the wording of the second indent of Article 1(d) and Article 4(1) that Directive 87/167 on aid to shipbuilding concerns a category of aids which "may be considered to be compatible with the common market". Aid for shipbuilding is therefore not necessarily compatible with the common market merely because it meets the requirements laid down by that directive, and it is always for the Commission to assess, under Article 93(3) of the Treaty, whether all the conditions required for compatibility with the common market are met.

In that context, in view both of the fact that the first paragraph of Article 42 of the Treaty acknowledges that the common agricultural policy takes precedence over the objectives of the Treaty in the field of competition and of the importance of protecting the effectiveness of the common policy in the fisheries sector, the Commission must take account of the requirements of the common fisheries policy when assessing whether an aid granted to the fisheries sector is compatible. It may therefore, in exercising its powers under Articles 92 and 93 of the Treaty, adopt guidelines for the assessment of national aid in the fisheries sector which require compliance not only with criteria pertaining exclusively to competition policy but also with those applicable in relation to the common fisheries policy, even if the Council has not expressly authorized it to do so.

2. By providing that the Commission, in cooperation with the Member States, is to keep under constant review the systems of aid existing in those States, and to propose to them any appropriate measures required by the progressive development or by the functioning of the common market, Article 93(1) of the Treaty involves an obligation of regular, periodic cooperation on the part of the Commission and the Member States, from which neither the Commission nor a Member State can release itself for an indefinite period depending on the unilateral will of either of them.

In particular, a Member State which is subject to the obligation of cooperation under Article 93(1) of the Treaty and which has accepted the rules laid down in the guidelines adopted by the Commission for the assessment of national aid in the fisheries sector must apply them when deciding on an application for aid for the construction of a fishing vessel intended to form part of one of the Community fleets, irrespective of the area in which it fishes.