Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1 Actions for annulment - Natural or legal persons - Measures of direct and individual concern to them - Commission decision addressed to a Member State and finding a State aid to be compatible with the common market - Actions brought by parties concerned within the meaning of Article 93(2) of the Treaty - Whether admissible - Conditions

(EC Treaty, Art. 93(2) and (3), and Art. 173, fourth para.)

2 Actions for annulment - Time-limits - Point from which time starts to run - Measure published in summary form and not notified to the applicant - Exact knowledge of the content and grounds - Obligation to request the full text of the measure within a reasonable time once its existence is known

(EC Treaty, Art. 173, fifth para.)

3 Actions for annulment - Action contesting a decision which is purely confirmatory of an earlier decision - Inadmissible - Meaning of confirmatory decision - Commission decision concerning new aid and replying to arguments put forward by a complainant in respect of aid already approved

(EC Treaty, Art. 173)

Summary

1 The fourth paragraph of Article 173 of the Treaty allows natural or legal persons to challenge decisions which are addressed to them or those which, although in the form of a regulation or a decision addressed to another person, are of direct and individual concern to them.

Where, without initiating the procedure under Article 93(2) of the Treaty, the Commission finds, on the basis of Article 93(3), that a State aid is compatible with the common market, the persons, undertakings or associations whose interests might be affected by the grant of the aid - in particular competing undertakings and trade associations, which, in their capacity as parties concerned, have the benefit of procedural safeguards if the procedure under Article 93(2) is initiated - must be permitted to bring an action for the annulment of the decision making that finding, provided that they are thereby seeking to safeguard those procedural rights and that, where a general aid scheme is at issue, their competitive position on the market is affected by the granting of the aid.

2 Under the fifth paragraph of Article 173 of the Treaty, annulment actions must be brought within two months of the publication of the measure, its notification to the applicant, or, in the absence thereof, the day on which it came to his knowledge, as the case may be.

Although a decision declaring aid notified by a Member State to be compatible with the common market is notified only to its addressee, namely the Member State, and only a summary thereof is published in the Official Journal, a third party may not bring an annulment action against it at any time. It is the responsibility of a person who becomes aware of the existence of a measure concerning him to request the full text within a reasonable period. Subject to that reservation, the two-month period referred to above does not start to run until the third party concerned has an exact knowledge of the content and grounds of the measure in question so as to be able to exercise his right of action.

3 A decision that is purely confirmatory of an earlier decision is not a measure open to legal challenge, since such a decision does not give those concerned the opportunity of reopening the question of the legality of the measure which is confirmed.

Where, in the case of a decision adopted in the area of State aid, the Commission replies, when examining new aid, to an argument or a request put forward by a complainant in respect of different aid already approved, that circumstance does not in itself demonstrate that the latter has been the subject of a fresh examination by the Commission. To hold otherwise would amount to accepting that, simply by lodging a complaint against aid measures already approved, an undertaking might extend or reopen the time-limit for bringing an action for annulment of the approval decision, whereas the time-limit prescribed for bringing actions under Article 173 of the Treaty is a matter of public policy.