Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2001:253
Date: 2001-05-08
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: State aids;Competition;Agreements, decisions and concerted practices;Freedom to provide services
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: France

Summary of the Judgment 
1. State aid — Definition — Measures intended to offset the costs which an undertaking 
incurs in discharging public service obligations — Excluded — Condition — 
Equivalence between the exemption and the additional costs incurred 
(EC Treaty, Art. 92 (now, after amendment, Art. 87 EC)) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-53/00 
2. State aid — Prohibition — Derogations — Aid paid to an undertaking entrusted 
with the operation of a service of general economic interest — Restrictions — 
Measure conferring an advantage exceeding the additional costs of performing the 
public service 
(EC Treaty, Art. 90(2) (now Art. 86(2) EC)) 
1. Provided that the tax on direct sales of 
medicines imposed by a Member State 
on pharmaceutical laboratories corre­
sponds to the additional costs actually 
incurred by wholesale distributors in 
discharging their public service obliga­
tions, not assessing wholesale distribu­
tors to the tax may be regarded as 
compensation for the services they 
provide and hence not State aid within 
the meaning of Article 92 of the Treaty 
(now, after amendment, Article 87 
EC). Moreover, provided there is the 
necessary equivalence between the 
exemption and the additional costs 
incurred, wholesale distributors will 
not be enjoying any real advantage 
for the purposes of Article 92(1) of the 
Treaty because the only effect of the 
tax will be to put distributors and 
laboratories on an equal competitive 
footing. 
(see para. 27, and operative part 1) 
2. Article 90(2) of the Treaty (now Arti­
cle 86(2) EC) is to be interpreted as 
meaning that it does not cover a tax 
advantage enjoyed by undertakings 
entrusted with the operation of a public 
service such as wholesale distributors 
supplying medicines to pharmacies in 
so far as that advantage exceeds the 
additional costs of performing the 
public service because the advantage, 
to the extent that it exceeds the addi­
tional costs, cannot be regarded as 
necessary to enable them to carry out 
the particular tasks assigned to them. 
(see paras 32, 33, and operative part 2) 
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