CELEX: 62003TJ0075
State aid
Tax measures adopted by a regional or local authority
Reductions on the rate of income tax for natural and legal persons having their tax residence in the Azores
Decision declaring aid schemes incompatible with the common market and requiring recovery of aid paid out
Actions for annulment
Individual concern
Admissibility
Definition of State aid
Selective nature
Adverse effect on competition
Effect on trade between Member States
Equal treatment
Legitimate expectations
Legal certainty

APPLICATION for annulment of the final part of Article 1, as well as Articles 2, 3 and 4 of Commission Decision 2003/442/EC
of 11 December 2002 on the part of the scheme adapting the national tax system to the specific characteristics of the Autonomous
Region of the Azores which concerns reductions in the rates of income and corporation tax (OJ 2003 L 150, p. 52).
Operative part
The Court:
1.
Dismisses the action;
2.
Orders Banco Comercial dos Açores, SA to bear its own costs as well as the costs of the Commission of the European Communities;
3.
Orders Banco Espírito Santo dos Açores, SA to bear its own costs.