Keywords

Summary



Keywords

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1. Applications for interim measures ° Suspension of operation ° Suspension of the operation of a decision requiring repayment of aid granted to a steel undertaking in breach of the applicable procedural rules ° Right to full and effective judicial protection ° Admissibility ° Restrictive approach to grant of suspension

(ECSC Treaty, Art. 39; Commission Decision No 3855/91/ECSC)

2. Actions for annulment ° Action brought under the first paragraph of Article 33 of the ECSC Treaty ° Pleas ° Manifest failure by the Commission to observe the provisions of the Treaty or any rule of law relating to its application ° Meaning

(ECSC Treaty, Art. 33, first para.)

3. Applications for interim measures ° Suspension of operation ° Suspension of the operation of a decision requiring repayment of aid granted to a steel undertaking in breach of the applicable procedural rules ° Conditions for granting ° Serious and irreparable harm ° Harm which is the unavoidable consequence of the application of the strict rules governing aid to the steel sector ° Excluded

(Commission Decision No 3855/91/ECSC)

Summary

1. The granting of a suspension of the operation of a Commission decision requiring repayment of State aid which is incompatible with the common market and was granted in breach of the procedural rules laid down in Decision No 3855/91/ECSC establishing Community rules for aid to the steel industry is not in itself incompatible with the provisions, in particular Article 39, of the ECSC Treaty, which require a broad interpretation of the provisions regarding the institution of proceedings before the Court, in order to safeguard the legal protection of individuals.

The unavailability of such a suspension would be incompatible, moreover, with the general principle of Community law giving individuals the right to enjoy complete and effective judicial protection under Community law, which requires that interim protection be available to individuals if it is necessary for the full effectiveness of the definitive future decision.

Nevertheless, in view of the fact that the provisions of Decision No 3855/91/ECSC leave the Member States in no doubt regarding their obligation to notify financial transfers to steel undertakings and to make their grant subject to a prior decision of the Commission, irrespective of whether or not they may be classified as aid, failure to do so amounting to a particularly serious breach, any suspension of a Commission decision declaring illegally granted aid to be incompatible with the common market and requiring its repayment should be contemplated with circumspection.

2. As regards the application of the second sentence of the first paragraph of Article 33 of the ECSC Treaty, according to which, in the context of actions for the annulment of Commission decisions and recommendations, the Court of Justice may not examine the evaluation of the situation, resulting from economic facts or circumstances, in the light of which the Commission took its decisions or made its recommendations, save where the Commission is alleged to have misused its powers or to have manifestly failed to observe the provisions of the Treaty or any rule of law relating to its application, the term "manifest" must be interpreted as presupposing that the failure to observe legal provisions is such as to indicate that the failure was the result of an obvious error in the evaluation, having regard to the provisions of the Treaty, of the situation in respect of which the decision was taken.

3. The fact that the immediate implementation of a Commission decision ordering the recovery of State aid incompatible with the common market, which was granted in breach of the procedural rules laid down in Decision No 3855/91/ECSC, may lead to the winding up or liquidation of the undertaking concerned and have social consequences which might cause significant harm to the State concerned is not sufficient, in the absence of evidence giving rise, at the stage of the proceedings on the application for interim measures, to doubts as to the validity of the decision, to justify ordering the suspension of its implementation. The harm which such suspension would seek to prevent, even if it were certain, would be merely the unavoidable consequence of the application of the strict rules concerning aid in the steel sector, whose purpose is primarily to prevent the effects particularly harmful to competition ° and so to the survival of successful companies ° of artificially maintaining undertakings which could not exist under normal market conditions.