Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2015:687
Date: 2015-09-24
Language of the case: English
Court formation: Eighth Chamber
Subject matter: State aids;Competition
Procedure: Action for annulment - unfounded;Action for annulment - decision unnecessary
Origin: United Kingdom

summary of the pleas in law relied on, and that no new plea in law may be introduced in the course of proceedings unless it is based on matters of law or of fact which come to light in the course of the procedure. 113 It is also apparent from the case-law that a plea based on an alleged illegality which was capable of being known and pleaded when the action was commenced cannot be regarded as a plea based on matters of law and fact which have come to light in the course of the proceedings (see, to that effect, judgments of 30 September 1982 in Amylum v Council, 108/81, ECR, EU:C:1982:322, paragraph 25, and 2 March 2010 in Evropaïki Dynamiki v EMSA, T‑70/05, ECR, EU:T:2010:55, paragraph 120). 114 In the present case, it must, first of all, be noted that, in the application, the applicant did not put forward any plea concerning the classification, or lack of classification, as State aid of the funds allocated to TV2 and transferred by it to those regional stations. Consequently, the present plea cannot be regarded as amplifying a plea put forward in the application, but constitutes a new plea, raised in the course of the proceedings. Its admissibility depends, therefore, on whether there are any matters of law or fact which have come to light in the course of the proceedings. 115 The applicant argues, essentially, that the statements on the aid in question, contained in the Commission’s defence in TV2/Danmark v Commission, T‑674/11, constitute an element which has come to light in the course of the proceedings. 116 By those statements, however, the Commission limited itself to setting out its own view as to the interpretation of recital 194 to the contested decision. That recital, as well as the entirety of the contested decision, was known to the applicant when the action was brought and these are clearly not matters which have come to light in the course of proceedings. Therefore, the present plea in law, raised during the proceedings, without the conditions capable of justifying this — as set out in Article 48(2) of the Rules of Procedure of 2 May 1991 — being satisfied, must be rejected as being inadmissible. 117 As all of the pleas in law raised in the action have been rejected, the action, in so far as it retains its purpose (see paragraph 45 above), must be dismissed. Costs 118 Under Article 134(1) of the Rules of Procedure, the unsuccessful party is to be ordered to pay the costs if they have been applied for in the successful party’s pleadings. Since the applicant has essentially been unsuccessful, it must be ordered to pay the costs, in accordance with the form of order sought to that effect by the Commission. 119 Under Article 138(1) of the Rules of Procedure, Member States which intervene in the proceedings are to bear their own costs. The Kingdom of Denmark must for that reason bear its own costs. 120 Account being taken of the fact that TV2 A/S did not formally apply for the applicant to be ordered to pay the costs of the intervention, TV2 A/S must bear its own costs. On those grounds, THE GENERAL COURT (Eighth Chamber) hereby: 1. Declares that it is unnecessary to adjudicate on the action, in so far as it seeks the annulment of Commission Decision 2011/839/EU of 20 April 2011 on the measures implemented by Denmark (C 2/03) for TV2/Danmark, in that the Commission found that the advertising revenue from 1995 and 1996 paid to TV2/Danmark A/S by the TV2 Fund amounted to State aid; 2. Dismisses the action as to the remainder; 3. Orders Viasat Broadcasting UK Ltd to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by the European Commission; 4. Orders the Kingdom of Denmark to bear its own costs; 5. Orders TV2/Danmark to bear its own costs. Gratsias Forwood Wetter Delivered in open court in Luxembourg on 24 September 2015. [Signatures] * Language of the case: English.