Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2002:38
Date: 2002-02-26
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: State aids;Competition
Concepts: Statement of reasons;Commission decision following the formal investigation procedure
Procedure: Action for annulment - successful
Origin: Italy

Summary of the Judgment 
Acts of the institutions — Statement of reasons — Obligation — Scope — Commis­
sion decision finding that aid is incompatible with the common market — Failure to state 
reasons 
(Arts 87(1) EC and 253 EC) 
II - 545 
SUMMARY — CASE T-323/99 
The statement of reasons required by 
Article 253 EC must be appropriate to the 
measure at issue and must disclose in a 
clear and unequivocal fashion the reason­
ing followed by the institution which 
adopted the measure in question in such a 
way as to enable the persons concerned to 
ascertain the reasons for the measure and to 
enable the Court to exercise its power of 
review. The requirement to state reasons 
must be assessed according to the circum­
stances of the case, and in particular the 
content of the measure in question, the 
nature of the reasons relied on and the 
interest which addressees may have in 
receiving explanations. It is not necessary 
for the reasoning to go into all the relevant 
facts and points of law, since the question 
whether the statement of reasons meets the 
requirements of Article 253 EC must be 
assessed with regard not only to its wording 
but also to its context and ail the legal rules 
governing the matter in question. 
With regard to a decision finding that State 
aid is incompatible with the common 
market, the Commission must indicate the 
reasons for its view that the measure in 
question falls within the scope of 
Article 87(1) EC, must be classified as 
incompatible with the Treaty, and there­
fore be abolished. The statement of reasons 
cannot be limited to a finding that the 
measure constitutes aid but must refer to 
the specific facts. The Commission must 
also ensure that the statement of the 
reasons for its decision makes it possible 
to identify with precision the aid at issue. 
The Commission is not entitled to rely on 
the fragmentary nature of the information 
sent to it on the detailed rules for the aid 
during the administrative procedure in 
order to justify the lack of reasoning in 
the contested decision, where it has not 
used all the powers available to it to require 
the national authorities to provide it with 
the relevant information concerning the 
financial terms for the provision of the aid. 
(see paras 55-58, 91) 
II - 546