Judgment;Information — ECLI:EU:T:2024:318
Date: 2024-05-15
Language of the case: Spanish
Court formation: Eighth Chamber, Extended Composition
Subject matter: State aids;Competition
Procedure: Action for annulment - unfounded;Action for annulment - decision unnecessary
Origin: Spain

Judgment of the General Court (Eighth Chamber, Extended Composition) of 15 May 2024 – Duro Felguera and Others v Commission (Joined Cases T‑401/14, T‑406/14 to T‑408/14, T‑415/14 to T‑417/14, T‑433/14, T‑442/14 and T‑443/14) ( State aid – Aid granted by the Spanish authorities to certain economic interest groupings (EIGs) and their investors – Tax regime applicable to certain finance lease agreements for the purchase of ships (Spanish tax lease system) – Decision declaring the aid incompatible in part with the internal market and ordering its partial recovery – Subject matter of the dispute ceasing to exist in part – No need to adjudicate in part – Article 107(1) TFEU – Obligation to state reasons – New aid – Recovery – Contractual clauses protecting the beneficiaries against the recovery of unlawful State aid incompatible with the internal market – Division of competences between the Commission and the national authorities ) 1. Action for annulment – Action directed against a Commission decision on State aid – Interest in bringing proceedings – Annulment in part of the contested decision in another action brought against that decision – Action seeking the annulment of the annulled parts of the contested decision – Action that has partly become devoid of purpose – No need to adjudicate (Art. 263 TFEU) (see paragraphs 26-47) 2. Action for annulment – Action directed against a Commission decision on State aid – Interest in bringing proceedings – Annulment in part of the contested decision in another action brought against that decision – Action seeking the annulment of the parts of the contested decision that have not been annulled – Continued interest in bringing proceedings (Art. 263 TFEU) (see paragraphs 48-60) 3. Acts of the institutions – Statement of reasons – Obligation – Scope – Commission decision on State aid (Art. 296 TFEU) (see paragraphs 66-71) 4. Aid granted by a Member State – Concept – Tax measures in favour of certain economic interest groupings and their investors – Tax scheme applicable to certain finance lease agreements for the purchase of ships – Tax scheme made up of several measures linked in fact and in law – Separate assessment of those measures – Not permissible (Art. 107(1) TFEU) (see paragraphs 76-80) 5. Aid granted by a Member State – Recovery of unlawful aid – Restoration of the prior situation – Scope – Contractual terms providing for the transfer of the burden of recovering unlawful aid from the recipients of that aid to other persons – Where the Commission has prohibited that transfer and ordered the recovery of the unlawful aid from the recipients – Failure to respect the allocation of powers as between the Commission and the Member States – No infringement of the freedom to conduct a business (Arts 107 and 108 TFEU; Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Arts 16 and 52(1)) (see paragraphs 89-109, 112, 113, 115-122) 6. Judicial proceedings – Measures of organisation of procedure – Request for production of documents – Discretion of the EU judicature (Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 89) (see paragraphs 127-132) Operative part The Court: 1. Declares that there is no longer any need to adjudicate on the actions in so far as they are directed against Article 1 of Commission Decision 2014/200/EU of 17 July 2013 on the aid scheme SA.21233 C/11 (ex NN/11, ex CP 137/06) implemented by Spain – Tax scheme applicable to certain finance lease agreements also known as the ‘Spanish Tax Lease System’ inasmuch as it designates the economic interest groupings and their investors as the sole recipients of the aid referred to in that decision, and Article 4(1) of that decision, inasmuch as it orders the Kingdom of Spain to recover in full the amount of the aid referred to in that decision from the economic interest groupings’ investors which benefited from it; 2. Dismisses the actions as to the remainder; 3. Orders each party to bear its own costs.