Judgment;Abstract — ECLI:EU:T:2025:629
Date: 2025-06-25
Language of the case: German
Court formation: First Chamber, Extended Composition
Procedure: Action for annulment - unfounded;Judgment delivered after back reference
Origin: Germany

Action brought on 14 August 2020 – Fachverband Spielhallen and LM v Commission (Case T-510/20) Language of the case: German Parties Applicants: Fachverband Spielhallen eV (Berlin, Germany) and LM (represented by: A. Bartosch and R. Schmidt, lawyers) Defendant: European Commission Form of order sought The applicants claim that the Court should: annul the contested decision in so far as the defendant definitively rejected the complaint of the applicants in relation to Measure 3, namely the reduction of trade tax and income tax or corporation tax as a result of the deduction of the amounts paid in connection with the transfer of profits (‘profit skimming’) under Paragraph 14 of the SpielbankG NRW (Law on Public Casinos of North Rhine-Westphalia) from the basis of assessment of those taxes in North Rhine-Westphalia, and thus refused to initiate the formal investigation procedure in relation to that measure; order the defendant to pay the costs of the applicants. Pleas in law and main arguments The present action seeks the annulment of Commission Decision C(2019)8819 final of 9 December 2019 on State Aid SA.44944 (2019/C ex 2016/FC) Tax treatment of public casinos operators in Germany and SA.53552 (2019/C ex 2019/FC) Alleged guarantee for public casinos operators in Germany (Wirtschaftlichkeitsgarantie) – Germany. In support of the action, the applicants rely on a single plea in law, alleging that the Commission infringed the procedural rights of the applicants in that it refused to initiate the formal investigation procedure in relation also to Measure 3. That plea in law is divided into four parts: Failure to take account of the rules established by EU case-law in classifying the transfer of profits under Paragraph 14 of the SpielbankG NRW (old version) as a tax – Adoption of an erroneous premiss as the basis for the investigation. Non-classification of the transfer of profits under Paragraph 14 of the SpielbankG NRW (old version) as a tax under the relevant provisions of German law. Inappropriateness of the arguments relied on by the defendant in support of the fiscal nature of the transfer of profits. Differentiation between general and special income taxes – reversal of the rule-exception relationship. ____________