Judgment of the General Court (Fifth Chamber) of 26 November 2015 —

Comunidad Autónoma de Galicia and Retegal v Commission

(Joined Cases T‑463/13 and T‑464/13)

‛State aid — Digital television — Aid for the deployment of digital terrestrial television in remote and less-urbanised areas in Spain — Decision declaring aid to be partly compatible and partly incompatible with the internal market — Concept of undertaking — Economic activity — Advantage — Service of general economic interest — Selective nature — Article 107(3)(c) TFEU — Obligation to state reasons’

1. Actions for annulment — Natural or legal persons — Measures of direct and individual concern to them — Decision of the Commission addressed to a Member State and finding an aid incompatible with the internal market — Action by a regional authority having granted that aid — Admissibility (Art. 263, fourth para., TFEU) (see para. 36)

2. Actions for annulment — Natural or legal persons — Measures of direct and individual concern to them — Individual concern — Commission decision finding aid incompatible with the internal market — Action by the aid recipient — Admissibility (Art. 263, fourth para., TFEU) (see paras 37-40)

3. Competition — Union rules — Addressees — Companies — Concept — Exercise of an economic activity — Deployment, maintenance and operation of digital terrestrial television in remote and less-urbanised areas — Existence of a market — No exercise of State prerogatives — Included (Art. 107(1) TFEU) (see paras 53-63)

4. State aid — Concept — Grant of an advantage to the beneficiaries — Receipt of funds intended for the improvement and extension of the terrestrial digital television network in remote and less-urbanised areas — Included (Art. 107(1) TFEU) (see paras 67-72)

5. State aid — Examination by the Commission — Examination of an aid scheme as a whole — Lawfulness (Arts 107(3) TFEU and 108 TFEU) (see paras 78, 136, 159)

6. State aid — Concept — Selective nature of the measure — Measure benefiting operators using a type of technology to the exclusion of operators using other technologies — Included (Art. 107(1) TFEU) (see paras 84, 85)

7. Competition — Undertakings entrusted with the operation of services of general economic interest — Broadcasting sector — Determination of services of general economic interest — Distinction between the provision of a broadcasting service and the operation of broadcasting networks — Lawfulness (Art. 107(1) TFEU) (see paras 103, 104, 106, 107)

8. State aid — Commission decision — Judicial review — Free assessment of the facts and evidence (see para. 109)

9. State aid — Prohibition — Exceptions — Discretion of the Commission — Judicial review — Limits (Art. 107(3) TFEU) (see paras 119-121)

10. State aid — Prohibition — Exceptions — Account taken of the situation existing at the time the measure adopted (Art. 107(3) TFEU) (see paras 127, 128, 132)

11. State aid — Examination by the Commission — Communication of the switchover to digital — Legal nature — Indicative rules of conduct implying a self-limitation on the Commission’s discretion (Arts 107(3) TFEU and 108 TFEU; Commission Notice COM(2003) 541 final) (see para. 142)

12. State aid — Prohibition — Exceptions — Aid capable of being regarded as compatible with the internal market — Assessment having regard to Article 107(3)(c) TFEU — Taking into account previous practice — Not included (Art. 107(3)(c) TFEU) (see para. 146)

13. Judicial proceedings — Application initiating proceedings — Formal requirements — Brief summary of the pleas in law on which the application is based — Similar requirements for claims invoked in support of a plea (Rules of Procedure of the General Court (1991), Art. 44(1)(c)) (see para. 147)

14. State aid — Examination by the Commission — Consecutive State interventions inseparably linked to each other — Assessment of the measures taken in their entirety — Lawfulness (Arts 107(3) TFEU and 108 TFEU) (see paras 158, 159)

Re:

APPLICATION for annulment of Commission Decision 2014/489/EU of 19 June 2013 on State aid SA.28599 [(C 23/2010) (ex NN 36/010, ex CP 163/2009)] implemented by the Kingdom of Spain for the deployment of digital terrestrial television in remote and less-urbanised areas (other than Castilla-La Mancha) (OJ 2014 L 217, p. 52).

Operative part

The Court:

1. Dismisses the actions;