Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2018:920
Date: 2018-12-12
Language of the case: German
Court formation: Fourth Chamber
Subject matter: State aids;Competition
Procedure: Action for annulment - successful
Origin: Germany

Judgment of the General Court of 12 December 2018 — Interessengemeinschaft privater Milchverarbeiter Bayerns and Others v Commission (Joined Cases T-722/15 to T-724/15) 1 (State aid — Aid for the Bavarian dairy sector — Financing of milk quality tests — Decision declaring the aid to be incompatible with the internal market — Right to participate in the administrative procedure — Article 108(2) TFEU — Article 6(1) of Regulation (EC) No 659/1999) Language of the case: German Parties Applicant in Case T-722/15: Interessengemeinschaft privater Milchverarbeiter Bayerns eV (Mertingen, Germany) (represented by: initially, C. Bittner and N. Thies and, subsequently, C. Bittner, lawyers) Applicant in Case T-723/15: Genossenschaftsverband Bayern eV (Munich, Germany) (represented by: initially, C. Bittner and N. Thies and, subsequently, C. Bittner, lawyers) Applicant in Case T-724/15: Verband der Bayerischen Privaten Milchwirtschaft eV (Munich) (represented by: initially, C. Bittner and N. Thies and, subsequently, C. Bittner, lawyers) Defendant: European Commission (represented by: T. Maxian Rusche, K. Herrmann and P Němečková, acting as Agents, and P. Melcher, lawyer) Re: Application under Article 263 TFEU seeking annulment in part of Commission Decision (EU) 2015/2432 of 18 September 2015 concerning State Aid SA.35484 (2013/C) [ex SA.35484 (2012/NN)] granted by Germany in respect of milk quality tests pursuant to the Milk and Fat Law (OJ 2015, L 334, p. 23). Operative part of the judgment The Court: Annuls Articles 1 to 4 of Commission Decision (EU) 2015/2432 of 18 September 2015 concerning State Aid SA.35484 (2013/C) [ex SA.35484 (2012/NN)] granted by Germany in respect of milk quality tests pursuant to the Milk and Fat Law in so far as they state that the granting of State aid by the Federal Republic of Germany is incompatible with the internal market as regards milk quality tests carried out in Bavaria and order the recovery of that aid; Orders the European Commission to bear its own costs and to pay the costs incurred by Interessengemeinschaft privater Milchverarbeiter Bayerns eV, Genossenschaftsverband Bayern eV and Verband der Bayerischen Privaten Milchwirtschaft eV. ____________ 1 OJ C 59, 15.2.2016.