Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 26 April 2018 (requests for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunal Supremo — Spain) — Asociación Nacional de Grandes Empresas de Distribución (ANGED) v Consejería de Economía y Hacienda del Principado de Asturias (C-234/16), Consejo de Gobierno del Principado de Asturias (C-235/16)
(Joined Cases C-234/16 and C-235/16) 1
(References for a preliminary ruling — Regional tax on large retail establishments — Freedom of establishment — Protection of the environment and town and country planning — State aid — Selective measure)
Language of the cases: Spanish
Referring court
Tribunal Supremo
Parties to the main proceedings
Appellant: Asociación Nacional de Grandes Empresas de Distribución (ANGED)
Respondents: Consejería de Economía y Hacienda del Principado de Asturias (C-234/16), Consejo de Gobierno del Principado de Asturias (C-235/16)
Operative part of the judgment
1.    Articles 49 and 54 TFEU must be interpreted as not precluding a tax levied on large retail establishments, such as that at issue in the main proceedings.
2.    A tax such as that at issue in the main proceedings imposed on large distribution establishments according, in essence, to their display and sales area does not constitute State aid within the meaning of Article 107(1) TFEU to the extent that it exempts establishments whose sales area is less than 4 000 m2. Nor, in so far as that tax exempts establishments which pursue the business of a garden centre or of selling vehicles, construction materials, machinery or industrial supplies and whose sales area does not exceed 10 000 m2, does it constitute State aid within the meaning of Article 107(1) TFEU, provided that those establishments do not have as significant an adverse effect on the environment and on town and country planning as the others, which it is for the referring court to ascertain.
____________
1 OJ C 260, 18.7.2016.