Case T-210/02: Action brought on 12 July 2002 by the British Aggregates Association Co Limited against the Commission of the European Communities
Date: 2002-07-12
Institutions: Court of First Instance
Subjects: European Commission, State aid, United Kingdom, action for annulment (EU), complaint to the Commission, environmental tax, mineral resources

14.9.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 219/23

Action brought on 12 July 2002 by the British Aggregates
Association Co Limited against the Commission of the
European Communities

certain sectors are not taxed in order to protect their competi-
tiveness. Therefore, the Levy must be considered to be State
Aid.

(Case T-210/02)

(2002/C 219/54)

(Language of the case: English)

An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
European Communities on 12 July 2002 by the British
Aggregates Association Co Limited, represented by Craig
Pouncey and Lode Van Den Hende of Herbert Smith, Brussels
(Belgium).

The applicant claims that the Court should:

— annul Commission Decision C(2002) 1478fin of 24 April
2002 ‘State Aid N 863/01- United Kingdom/Aggregates
Levy’ save as regards the exemption for Northern Ireland;

— order the Commission to pay the applicant’s costs in the

present proceedings.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The applicant
is an association representing smaller and
independent quarrying companies in the United Kingdom.
The competitive position of its members is affected by the
Aggregates Levy, an environmental tax raised by the United
Kingdom on certain aggregates. The objective of the Levy is to
reflect the environmental impacts of aggregate quarrying more
fully in the price of aggregates. These environmental costs
include noise, dust, damage to biodiversity and visual amenity.
A further objective of the Levy is the encouragement of the
use of recycled or alternative material.

Furthermore, the applicant submits that the Commission failed
to state reasons in the contested Decision, as required by
Article 253 EC Treaty. According to the applicant,
the
Commission also violated its obligation to initiate a formal
investigation procedure, where the preliminary investigation
was carried out in insufficient depth to resolve the serious
difficulties regarding the compatibility of the measure with the
State Aid provisions. The applicant also submits that the
Commission violated its procedural obligations in the prelimi-
nary investigation. In this respect, the applicant claims that
the Commission did not conduct a diligent and impartial
examination of the applicant’s complaint and did not provide
the applicant with an adequate explanation for rejecting its
arguments.

Action brought on 15 July 2002 by Tideland Signal
Limited against the Commission of the European Com-
munities

(Case T-211/02)

(2002/C 219/55)

(Language of the case: English)

An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
European Communities on 15 July 2002 by Tideland Signal
Limited, represented by Christopher Thomas and Ciara Kenne-
dy of Lovells, Brussels (Belgium).

In the contested Decision, the Commission declared the Levy
to be compatible with the Common Market.

The applicant claims that the Court should:

According to the applicant, the Commission made a manifest
error of assessment in deciding that the distinction made
between taxable and non-taxable situations is justified by the
logic and nature of the tax system. The applicant claims,
however, that the objectives of the Levy cannot explain the
different treatment of similar situations. The applicant also
stated that the United Kingdom authorities admitted that

— annul the Commission Decision of 17 June 2002 rejecting
the tender submitted by Tideland Signal Limited in
tender procedure EUROPEAID/112336/C/S/WW-TACIS-
(RE-TENDER);

— order the Commission to pay the costs incurred by the

applicant.