Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2010:98
Date: 2010-03-18
Language of the case: French
Court formation: Eighth Chamber
Subject matter: State aids;Competition
Procedure: Action for annulment - inadmissible
Origin: Belgium

Summary of the Judgment Actions for annulment – Natural or legal persons – Interest in bringing proceedings – Action against a Commission decision concerning State aid (Art. 230, fourth para., EC) An action for annulment brought by a natural or legal person is admissible only in so far as the applicant has an interest in the annulment of the contested measure. Such an interest presupposes that the annulment of the measure must of itself be capable of having legal consequences and that the action must be likely, if successful, to procure an advantage for the party who brought it. That interest must be vested and present and is evaluated as at the date on which the action is brought. It must, however, continue until the final decision, failing which there will be no need to adjudicate. An action brought by an undertaking seeking the annulment of a Commission decision laying down a transitional period for terminating a State aid scheme declared incompatible with the common market is inadmissible where the undertaking no longer has a valid authorisation under national law and thus no longer validly benefits from the tax scheme referred to in that decision. The annulment of that decision could not procure any advantage for the undertaking. (see paras 48-49, 53, 58)