Order — ECLI:EU:T:2002:286
Date: 2002-11-27
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: State aids;Competition
Concepts: Notification and obligation to suspend payment of the aid;Costs;General
Procedure: Action for failure to act - decision unnecessary
Origin: Germany

Summary of the Order 
1. Action for failure to act — Failure remedied after commencement of proceedings — 
Subject-matter of the action ceasing to exist — No need to adjudicate 
(Arts 87 EC, 88 EC and 232 EC) 
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SUMMARY — CASE T-291/01 
2. Procedure — Costs — No need to adjudicate ordered in the light of a Commission 
decision taken after commencement of an action for failure to act — Decision taken 
within a reasonable period — Order that parties bear their own costs 
(Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, Art. 87(6)) 
1. Where, by adopting a decision declar­
ing that certain tax exemptions are not 
State aid within the meaning of 
Article 87(1) EC, the Commission 
defines its position, within the meaning 
of the second paragraph of Article 232 
EC, after the commencement of an 
action for failure to act seeking a 
declaration that the Commission 
infringed Article 232 EC by failing to 
examine a request to commence an 
investigation of State aid under 
Articles 87 EC and 88 EC with regard 
to those exemptions and by failing to 
take any decision within a period of 
two months , the Commission's 
decision renders that action devoid of 
purpose and there is, therefore, no need 
to adjudicate upon it. 
(see paras 1, 5-6, 11-12) 
2. In a case where an action for failure to 
act has become devoid of purpose and 
there is, therefore, no need to adjudi­
cate upon it, because after its com­
mencement the Commission adopted a 
decision which precludes a declaration 
of failure to act, the fact that such 
decision was, in the light of the com­
plexity of the question to be decided, 
adopted within a reasonable period, 
justifies the Court, in the exercise of its 
discretion under Article 87(6) of the 
Rules of Procedure, in ordering, in 
fairness, that each party shall bear its 
own costs. 
(see paras 13, 15-18) 
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