Order — ECLI:EU:C:2017:953
Date: 2017-12-07
Language of the case: English
Court formation: Seventh Chamber
Subject matter: State aids;Competition
Procedure: Action for annulment;Appeal - unfounded;Appeal - inadmissible;Judgment delivered after back reference
Origin: Ireland

Order of the Court (Seventh Chamber) of 7 December 2017 — Aughinish Alumina v Commission (Case C‑373/16 P) (1) (Appeal — State aid — Article 181 of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice — Exemption from excise duty on mineral oils used as fuel for alumina production — Existing or new aid — Regulation (EC) No 659/1999 — Article 1(b)(i) — Principle of the protection of legitimate expectations — Duty to state reasons) 1. State aid — Existing aid and new aid — Concept — Aid scheduled before the date of accession of the Member State concerned but implemented after that date — Classification as existing aid — No such classification (Council Regulation No 659/1999, Art. 1(b)(i)) (see paras 28-30) 2. Judicial proceedings — Intervention — Pleas different from those of the main party supported — Admissibility — Condition — Connection with the subject matter of the case (Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 40) (see paras 39, 40) 3. Judicial proceedings — Judgment of the Court of Justice binding the General Court — Conditions — Reference back following an appeal — Points of law finally determined by the Court of Justice in the context of the appeal — Obligation of the General Court to draw consequences from the legal considerations set out by the Court of Justice (Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 61, second para.) (see paras 41-44) 4. Appeal — Grounds — Mistaken assessment of the facts — Inadmissibility — Review by the Court of Justice of the assessment of the facts put before the General Court — Possible only where the clear sense of the evidence has been distorted (Art. 256 TFEU; Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 58, first para.) (see para. 44) 5. State aid — Recovery of unlawful aid — Aid granted in infringement of the rules of procedure laid down in Article 88 EC — Legitimate expectations entertained by the recipients — Conditions and limits — End of the legitimate expectations as of the publication of the decision to initiate the formal investigation procedure — Exceptional circumstances such as to give rise to legitimate expectations — Unreasonable period in the conduct of the formal investigation procedure — Weighing up the imperatives of legal certainty and the public requirements relating to the recovery of the aid granted unlawfully (Art. 88 EC; Council Regulation No 659/1999) (see paras 46-52) Operative part The Court: 1. Dismisses the appeal; 2. Orders Aughinish Alumina Ltd to pay the costs; 3. Orders the French Republic to bear its own costs. 1 OJ C 305, 22.8.2016.