Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:1998:78
Date: 1998-02-19
Language of the case: Italian
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: State aids;Competition
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Italy

Summary of the Judgment
State aid — Meaning — Non-application to an undertaking of the generally applied rules con-
cerning fixed-term employment contracts — Advantage granted without any transfer of public
resources — Excluded
(EC Treaty, Art. 92(1))
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SUMMARY— JOINED CASES C-52/97, C-53/97 AND C-54/97
A 'national provision which relieves only one
undertaking of the obligation of complying
with the generally applicable legislation con­
cerning fixed-term employment contracts
does not constitute State aid within the
meaning of Article 92(1) of the Treaty pro­
vided that it does not involve any direct or
indirect transfer of State resources to that
undertaking.
Only advantages granted directly or indi­
rectly through State resources are to be
regarded as aid within the meaning of Article
92(1). The distinction made in that provision
between 'aid granted by a Member State' and
aid granted 'through State resources' does
not signify that all advantages granted by a
State, whether financed through State
resources or not, constitute aid but is
intended merely to bring within that defini­
tion both advantages which are granted
directly by the State and those granted by a
public or private body designated or estab­
lished by the State.
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