Joined Cases C-485/03 to C-490/03: Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 14 December 2006 — Commission of the European Communities v Kingdom of Spain (State aid — Aid schemes — Incompatibility with the common market — Time-limit for execution of the Commission's decisions — Abolition of aid schemes — Cancellation of outstanding aid — Recovery of aid made available — Absolute impossibility of giving effect to a decision)
Date: 2006-12-30
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: European Commission, Spain, State aid, action for failure to fulfil an obligation, aid to undertakings, small and medium-sized enterprises, suspension of aid, tax relief

30.12.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 331/1

I

(Information)

COURT OF JUSTICE

COURT OF JUSTICE

Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 12 December
2006 — Federal Republic of Germany v European Parlia-
ment and Council of the European Union

the laws and regulations of the Member States for the purposes
of protecting human health (Article 152 EC)

(Case C-380/03) (1)

Operative part of the judgment

(Action for annulment — Approximation of laws — Directive
2003/33/EC — Advertising and sponsorship in respect of
tobacco products — Annulment of Articles 3 and 4 — Choice
of legal basis — Articles 95 EC and 152 EC — Principle of
proportionality)

(2006/C 331/01)

Language of the case: German

Parties

Applicant: Federal Republic of Germany (represented by: M.
Lumma, W.-D. Plessing and C.-D. Quassowski, acting as Agents,
and J. Sedemund, Rechtsanwalt)

Defendants: European Parliament (represented by: R. Passos, E.
Waldherr and U. Rösslein, acting as Agents), Council of the
European Union (represented by: E. Karlsson and J.-P. Hix,
acting as Agents)

Interveners in support of the defendants: Kingdom of Spain (repre-
sented by: L. Fraguas Gadea and M. Rodríguez Cárcamo, acting
as Agents), Republic of Finland (represented by: A. Guimaraes-
Purokoski and E. Bygglin, acting as Agents), French Republic
(represented by: G. de Bergues and R. Loosli-Surrans, acting as
Agents), Commission of
the European Communities (repre-
sented by: M.-J. Jonczy, L. Pignataro-Nolin and F. Hoffmeister,
acting as Agents)

Re:

The Court:

1. Dismisses the action;

2. Orders the Federal Republic of Germany to pay the costs;

3. Orders the Kingdom of Spain, the French Republic, the Republic of
Finland and the Commission of the European Communities each to
bear their own costs.

(1) OJ C 275, 15.11.2003.

Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 14 December
the European Communities v
2006 — Commission of

Kingdom of Spain

(Joined Cases C-485/03 to C-490/03) (1)

(State aid — Aid schemes — Incompatibility with the
common market — Time-limit for execution of the Commis-
sion's decisions — Abolition of aid schemes — Cancellation
of outstanding aid — Recovery of aid made available — Abso-
lute impossibility of giving effect to a decision)

(2006/C 331/02)

Language of the case: Spanish

Annulment of Articles 3 and 4 of Directive 2003/33/EC of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 26 May 2003 on
the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative
provisions of the Member States relating to the advertising and
sponsorship of tobacco products (OJ 2003 L 152, p. 16) —
Legal basis (Article 95 EC) — Attainment of the objective of the
that
establishment of
activity — Scope of the prohibition on any harmonisation of

the internal market by prohibition of

Parties

Applicant: Commission of the European Communities (repre-
sented by: J.L. Buendía Sierra and F. Castillo de la Torre, Agents)

Defendant: Kingdom of Spain (represented by: N. Díaz Abad,
Agent)

C 331/2

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

30.12.2006

Re:

Failure by a Member State to fulfil obligations — Failure to
adopt, within the prescribed period, the measures necessary to
ensure the application of Articles 2 and 3 of the Commission
decision of 11 July 2001 concerning the State aid scheme
implemented by Spain in favour of undertakings in the province
of Álava in the form of a tax credit of 45 % of the investments
made (notified under No C(2001)1759) (OJ 2002 L 296, p. 1)
— Tax measures in the historic territory of Álava — Obligation
to recover aid already paid and obligation to abolish future
payments

Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 5 December
2006 (references for a preliminary ruling from the Corte
d'appello di Torino and the Tribunale di Roma — Italy) —
Federico Cipolla v Rosaria Fazari, née Portolese, C-94/04)
and Stefano Macrino, Claudia Capodarte v Roberto Meloni
(C-202/04)

(Joined Cases C-94/04 and C-202/04) (1)

(Community competition rules — National rules concerning
lawyers' fees — Setting of professional scales of charges —
Freedom to provide services)

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

(2006/C 331/03)

Language of the case: Italian

1. Declares that by failing to adopt within the prescribed period all of
the measures necessary to comply with Articles 2 and 3 of each of
the following decisions:

Referring court

Corte d'appello di Torino

— Commission Decision 2002/820/EC of 11 July 2001 on the
State aid scheme implemented by Spain for firms in Álava in
the form of a tax credit amounting to 45 % of investments
(Case C-485/03);

— Commission Decision 2002/892/EC of 11 July 2001 on the
State aid scheme applied by Spain to certain newly established
firms in Álava (Case C-488/03);

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicants: Federico Cipolla (C-94/04) and Stefano Macrino,
Claudia Capodarte (C-202/04)

Defendants: Rosaria Fazari, née Portolese (C-94/04), Roberto
Meloni (C-202/04)

— Commission Decision 2003/27/EC of 11 July 2001 on the
State aid scheme implemented by Spain for firms in Vizcaya in
the form of a tax credit amounting to 45 % of investments
(Case C-487/03);

Re:

— Commission Decision 2002/806/EC of 11 July 2001 on the
State aid scheme applied by Spain to certain newly established
firms in Vizcaya (Case C-490/03);

— Commission Decision 2002/894/EC of 11 July 2001 on the
State aid scheme implemented by Spain for firms in Guipúzcoa
in the form of a tax credit amounting to 45 % of investments
(Case C-486/03), and

— Commission Decision 2002/540/EC of 11 July 2001 on the
State aid scheme applied by Spain to certain newly established
firms in Guipúzcoa (Case C-489/03),

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Corte d'appello di Torino
— Applicability of Community competition rules to lawyers'
services — National rules laying down scales of fees to which
no exceptions can be made and under which any agreement
between client and lawyer concerning professional fees is void

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Tribunale di Roma —
Comparability with Articles 10 EC and 81 EC of national rules
approving a tariff of fees encompassing services provided by
lawyers in the area of legal representation and legal consultation
which may also be provided by non-lawyers — Tariff proposed
by the professional body of lawyers

the Kingdom of Spain has failed to fulfil
those decisions;

its obligations under

Operative part of the judgment

2. Orders the Kingdom of Spain to pay the costs.

(1) OJ C 21, 24.1.2004.

1. Articles 10 EC, 81 EC and 82 EC do not preclude a Member
State from adopting a legislative measure which approves, on the
basis of a draft produced by a professional body of lawyers such as
the Consiglio nazionale forense (National Lawyers' Council), a scale
fixing a minimum fee for members of the legal profession from
which there can generally be no derogation in respect of either
services reserved to those members or those, such as out-of-court
services, which may also be provided by any other economic operator
not subject to that scale.