Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1. Actions for annulment - Natural or legal persons - Measures of direct and individual concern to them - Commission decision prohibiting a sectoral aid scheme - Application made by an undertaking which is a beneficiary of individual aid granted under that scheme and which is to be repaid - Admissibility

(EC Treaty, Art. 173, fourth para. (now, after amendment, Art. 230 fourth para. EC))

2. State aid - Examination by the Commission - Commission's obligation to extend the investigation procedure to changes made to an aid scheme which has already been implemented - No such obligation

(EC Treaty, Art. 93(2) and (3) (now Art. 88(2) and (3) EC))

3. State aid - Examination by the Commission - Aid scheme no longer in force - Irrelevant

(EC Treaty, Art. 92 (now, after amendment, Art. 87 EC))

4. Acts of the institutions - Statement of reasons - Obligation - Scope - Commission decision on State aid

(EC Treaty, Art. 92 (now, after amendment, Art. 87 EC) and Art. 190 (now Article 253 EC))

Summary

1. Persons other than those to whom a decision is addressed may claim to be individually concerned only if the decision affects them by reason of certain attributes peculiar to them or by reason of circumstances in which they are differentiated from all other persons and if, by virtue of those factors, it distinguishes them individually in the same way as the person addressed. Consequently, an undertaking cannot, in principle, contest a Commission decision prohibiting a sectoral aid scheme if it is concerned by that decision solely by virtue of belonging to the sector in question and being a potential beneficiary of the scheme.

Such a decision is, vis-à-vis the undertaking should it seek to contest the decision, a measure of general application covering situations which are determined objectively and entails legal effects for a class of persons envisaged in a general and abstract manner. However, an undertaking is in a different position where it is concerned by the decision in question not only by virtue of being a potential beneficiary of the aid scheme at issue but also by virtue of being an actual beneficiary of individual aid granted under that scheme, the recovery of which has been ordered by the Commission. That undertaking is also directly concerned where the Commission decision obliges the Member State which granted the aid to recover it from the undertaking.

( see paras 32-36 )

2. When the Commission has initiated the procedure provided for in Article 93(2) of the Treaty (now Article 88(2) EC) in respect of an aid scheme which has already been implemented, it cannot be required to extend that procedure when the Member State concerned modifies the scheme in question. If the opposite were the case, the State would in fact be able to draw out the procedure for as long as it pleased, and thus postpone the adoption of a final decision.

That conclusion is not at variance with the fact that the obligation laid down in the first sentence of Article 93(3) of the Treaty to inform the Commission of any plans to grant or alter aid does not apply solely to an initial plan but also covers subsequent alterations to that plan; such information may be supplied to the Commission in the course of the consultations which take place following the initial notification. That case is concerned with alterations that may affect an aid plan in the course of its adoption and the decision in that case is not, therefore, applicable to a situation in which the aid scheme is already operational when the Commission learned about it.

( see paras 43-44 )

3. In the case of an aid scheme, the Commission may confine itself to examining the general characteristics of the scheme in question without being required to examine each particular case in which it applies. That power is not impaired by the fact that the aid scheme in question has ceased to apply. In that case as well, the Commission must be entitled to assess the compatibility of the scheme with Community law on the basis of its general characteristics.

( see para. 51 )

4. The statement of reasons required by Article 190 of the EC Treaty (now Article 253 EC) must be appropriate to the measure at issue and must disclose in a clear and unequivocal fashion the reasoning followed by the institution which adopted the measure in question in such a way as to enable the persons concerned to ascertain the reasons for the measure and to enable the competent Community Court to exercise its power of review. The requirement to state reasons must be evaluated according to the circumstances of each case, in particular the content of the measure in question, the nature of the reasons given and the interest which the addressees of the measure, or other parties to whom it is of direct and individual concern, may have in obtaining explanations. It is not necessary for the reasoning to go into all the relevant facts and points of law, since the question whether the statement of reasons meets the requirements of Article 190 of the Treaty must be assessed with regard not only to its wording but also to its context and to all the legal rules governing the matter in question.

As regards more particularly a decision concerning State aid, although in certain cases the very circumstances in which the aid has been granted may show that it is liable to affect trade between Member States and to distort or threaten to distort competition, the Commission must at least set out those circumstances in the statement of reasons for its decision.

( see paras 65-66 )