Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1. State aid - Planned aid - Notification to the Commission - Prior notice under Article 4(6) of Regulation No 659/1999 - Probative value of a fax

(Council Regulation No 659/1999, Art. 4(6))

2. State aid - Planned aid - Notification to the Commission - Guide to procedures in State aid cases - Prior notice under Article 4(6) of Regulation No 659/1999 - Notification to the Directorate-General with responsibility for the matter

(Council Regulation No 659/1999, Art. 4(6))

3. State aid - Examination by the Commission - Prior notice under Article 4(6) of Regulation No 659/1999 - Decision to initiate the formal investigation procedure - Obligation to give notification of the decision within 15 working days following receipt thereof - Methods for calculating the time-limit

(Art. 254(3) EC, Council Regulation No 659/1999, Art. 4(6))

Summary

$$1. The probative value of a fax depends both on the degree of formality that the applicable provisions require for the act in question and the conditions governing the use of the fax transmission process, bearing in mind that, as a rule, the binding legal effects of the act are in no way affected by the fact that it is sent by fax. Thus, where the applicable provisions require a particular degree of procedural formality for certain acts, consideration must be given to whether sending such acts by fax is compatible with those provisions.

As regards prior notice under Article 4(6) of Regulation No 659/1999, the provisions applicable to pre-litigation proceedings for examining the compatibility with the Treaty of State aid do not require any particular procedural formality. Unlike the initial step of notifying new aid, receipt of which must, under Article 2 of the Regulation, be acknowledged by the Commission to the Member State in question, prior notice of implementation is not subject to any requirements beyond those relating to the various stages of the pre-litigation procedure before the Commission.

( see paras 21-23 )

2. The Commission's Guide to procedures in State aid cases requires only that initial notification of aid from Member States be communicated to the General-Secretariat of the Commission. However, the Guide provides at paragraph 24 that replies to requests for further information from the Directorate-General concerned should be sent directly to that Directorate- General. It follows that the same must be true of prior notice under Article 4(6) of Regulation No 659/1999, which is given in the context of the ongoing exchange of information, needs to reach the department responsible for the file as soon as possible.

( see para. 26 )

3. Article 254(3) EC clearly states that decisions...shall be notified to those to whom they are addressed and shall take effect upon such notification. Therefore, a decision whose purpose is to prevent the implementation of planned aid by a Member State cannot take effect before it becomes enforceable against that Member State, which is on the date of its notification to that State. Article 4(6) of Regulation No 659/1999, therefore, which relates to decisions on prior notice by a State taken by the Commission within a period of 15 working days following receipt of the notice, cannot be interpreted as meaning that the mere adoption of such decisions interrupts that period, irrespective of when they are notified.

( see paras 31-33 )