Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1. State aid — Planned aid — Review by the Commission — Preliminary stage and inter partes stage — Compatibility of aid with the common market — Difficulties of assessment — Commission ' s obligation to initiate the inter partes procedure — (EC Treaty, Art. 93(2) and (3) (now Art. 88(2) and (3) EC))

2. Actions for annulment — Natural or legal persons — Measures of direct and individual concern to them — Commission decision addressed to a Member State and finding a State aid to be compatible with the common market without initiating the formal investigation procedure — Action brought by parties concerned within the meaning of Article 93(2) of the Treaty (now Article 88(2) EC) — Whether admissible — (EC Treaty, Art. 93(2) and (3) (now Art. 88(2) and (3) EC) and Art. 173, fourth para. (now, after amendment, Art. 230, fourth para., EC))

3. Acts of the institutions — Statement of reasons — Obligation — Scope — Taking into account of the context and all the legal rules — (EC Treaty, Art. 190 (now Art. 253 EC))

4. State aid — Definition — Legal nature — Interpretation on the basis of objective factors — Reservation agreement — Evaluation according to the criterion of the private investor — (EC Treaty, Art. 92(1) (now, after amendment, Art. 87(1) EC))

5. Actions for annulment — Pleas — Misuse of powers — Definition — (EC Treaty, Art. 173 (now, after amendment, Art. 230 EC))

Summary

1. The procedure under Article 93(2) of the Treaty (now Article 88(2) EC) is essential whenever the Commission has serious difficulties in determining whether an aid is compatible with the common market. When taking a decision favourable to an aid, the Commission may restrict itself to the preliminary investigation stage of Article 93(3) of the Treaty only if it is able to satisfy itself after an initial investigation that the aid is compatible with the Treaty. If, on the other hand, the initial investigation leads the Commission to the opposite conclusion or if it does not enable it to overcome all the difficulties involved in determining whether the aid is compatible with the common market, the Commission is under a duty to carry out all the requisite consultations and, for that purpose, to initiate the procedure under Article 93(2).

see paras 59-61

2. Undertakings which are direct competitors of an undertaking in receipt of an aid and which have the status of parties concerned for the purposes of Article 93(2) of the Treaty (now Article 88(2) EC) must be regarded as directly and individually concerned by a Commission decision declaring the aid granted compatible with the common market without initiating the procedure under Article 93(2), and must therefore be allowed to bring proceedings for annulment of that decision.

see paras 69, 73

3. Compliance with the obligation to state reasons must be assessed with regard not only to the wording of the act impugned but also to its context and to all the legal rules governing the matter in question.

see para. 94

4. State aid, as defined in the Treaty, is a legal concept which must be interpreted on the basis of objective factors.

A measure which a public undertaking adopts with regard to a private undertaking in the form of a reservation agreement cannot, merely because the two parties have undertaken reciprocal supply commitments, be excluded in principle from the concept of aid within the meaning of Article 92(1) of the Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 87(1) EC). Its classification depends on whether the recipient undertaking receives an economic advantage which it would not have received under normal market conditions.

see paras 106-108

5. A measure may amount to a misuse of powers only if it appears, on the basis of objective, relevant and consistent factors, to have been taken with the exclusive purpose, or at any rate the main purpose, of achieving an end other than that stated or evading a procedure specifically prescribed by the Treaty for dealing with the circumstances of the case.

see para. 164