**Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 28 July 2011 – Territorio Histórico de Vizcaya – Diputación Foral de Vizcaya and
Others v Commission**

**(Joined Cases C-474/09 P to C-476/09 P)**

Appeal – State aid – Actions for annulment – Decisions of the Commission concerning the State aid schemes implemented by Spain in favour of undertakings in the provinces
of Vizcaya, Álava and Guipúzcoa – Reductions in the tax base for certain newly-created undertakings – Legitimate expectations – Principles of legal certainty and sound administration – Compliance with a reasonable time-limit – Lack of notification

1.                     *Appeals – Grounds – Challenge, repeating the pleas in law and arguments raised before the General Court, to the latter’s interpretation
or application of Union law – Admissibility (Art. 256(1), second para, TFEU; Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 58, first
para.) (see paras 57-58, 60)*

2.                     *State aid – Recovery of unlawful aid – Aid granted in breach of the procedural rules under Article 88 EC – Legitimate expectations
entertained by the recipients – Protection – Conditions and limits – No action taken by the Commission for a relatively long
time – No legitimate expectations (Arts 87 EC and 88 EC) (see paras 66-67, 70, 76-78)*

3.                     *Procedure – Measures of organisation of procedure – Request for production of documents – Duties of person making the request
(Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 64(3)(d) and (4)) (see paras 89, 92)*

4.                     *Appeals – Grounds – Review by the Court of Justice of the General Court’s refusal to order measures of inquiry – Extent (Rules
of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 66(1)) (see para. 93)*

5.                     *Procedure – Intervention – Application seeking to support the form of order sought by one of the parties – Application containing
specific grounds of challenge but not altering the framework of the action – Admissibility (Statute of the Court of Justice,
Art. 40, fourth para.) (see paras 109-111)*

6.                     *State aid – Recovery of unlawful aid – Aid granted in breach of the procedural rules under Article 88 EC – No action taken
by the Commission, for want of enough information available to it, for a relatively long time – No breach of the principles
of legal certainty and of good administration – (Arts 87 EC and 88 EC; Council Regulation No 659/1999, Art. 14(1)) (see paras
116-117, 119-120, 124-125)*

**Re:**

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| Appeal against the judgment of the Court of First Instance (Fifth Chamber, extended composition) of 9 September 2009 in Joined Cases T‐230/01 to T‐232/01 and T‐267/01 to T‐269/01 | Diputación Foral de Álava and Gobierno Vasco and Others | v | Commission | , by which that court dismissed, in Cases T‐230/01 and T‐267/01 an application for annulment of Commission Decision 2002/892/EC of 11 July 2001 on the State aid scheme applied by Spain to certain newly established firms in Álava (OJ 2002 L 314, p. 1), in Cases T‐231/01 and T‐268/01 an application for annulment of Commission Decision 2002/806/EC of 11 July 2001 on the State aid scheme applied by Spain to certain newly established firms in Vizcaya (OJ 2002 L 279, p. 35), and in Cases T‐232/01 and T‐269/01, an application for annulment of Commission Decision 2002/540/EC of 11 July 2001 on the State aid scheme applied by Spain to certain newly established firms in Guipúzcoa (OJ 2002 L 174, p. 31). |

**Operative part**

The Court:

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| 1. | | Dismisses the main appeals and the cross-appeals; |

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| 2. | | Orders Territorio Histórico de Vizcaya – Diputación Foral de Vizcaya, Territorio Histórico de Álava – Diputación Foral de Álava, Territorio Histórico de Guipúzcoa – Diputación Foral de Guipúzcoa, Cámara Oficial de Comercio, Industria y Navegación de Vizcaya, Cámara Oficial de Comercio e Industria de Álava, Cámara Oficial de Comercio, Industria y Navegación de Guipúzcoa each to pay an equal share of the costs of the present appeals; |

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| 3. | | Orders the Kingdom of Spain to bear its own costs. |