Case C-428/06 to C-434/06: Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 11 September 2008 (references for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de la Comunidad Autónoma del País Vasco (Spain)) — Unión General de Trabajadores de La Rioja (UGT-Rioja) (C-428/06), Comunidad Autónoma de La Rioja (C-429/06) v Juntas Generales del Territorio Histórico de Vizcaya, Diputación Foral de Vizcaya, Cámara de Comercio, Industria y Navegación de Bilbao, Confederación Empresarial Vasca (Confebask) and Comunidad Autónoma de La Rioja (C-430/06), Comunidad Autónoma de Castilla y León (C-433/06) v Diputación Foral de Álava, Juntas Generales de Álava, Confederación Empresarial Vasca (Confebask) and Comunidad Autónoma de La Rioja (C-431/06), Comunidad Autónoma de Castilla y León (C-432/06) v Diputación Foral de Guipúzcoa, Juntas Generales de Guipúzcoa, Confederación Empresarial Vasca (Confebask) and Comunidad Autónoma de Castilla y León (C-434/06) v Diputación Foral de Vizcaya, Juntas Generales del Territorio Histórico de Vizcaya, Cámara de Comercio, Industria y Navegación de Bilbao, Confederación Empresarial Vasca (Confebask) (State aid — Tax measures adopted by a regional or local authority — Selective nature)
Date: 2008-09-11
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: State aid, competition, corporation tax, interpretation of the law, tax law, tax relief, tax system

C 285/6

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

8.11.2008

y Navegación

Industria
Empresarial

Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 11 September
2008 (references for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunal
Superior de Justicia de la Comunidad Autónoma del País
Vasco (Spain)) — Unión General de Trabajadores de
La Rioja (UGT-Rioja) (C-428/06), Comunidad Autónoma de
La Rioja (C-429/06) v Juntas Generales del Territorio
Histórico de Vizcaya, Diputación Foral de Vizcaya, Cámara
de Comercio,
de Bilbao,
and
Confederación
Comunidad Autónoma de La Rioja (C-430/06), Comunidad
Autónoma de Castilla y León (C-433/06) v Diputación
Foral de Álava, Juntas Generales de Álava, Confederación
Empresarial Vasca (Confebask) and Comunidad Autónoma
de La Rioja (C-431/06), Comunidad Autónoma de Castilla y
León (C-432/06) v Diputación Foral de Guipúzcoa, Juntas
Generales de Guipúzcoa, Confederación Empresarial Vasca
(Confebask) and Comunidad Autónoma de Castilla y León
(C-434/06) v Diputación Foral de Vizcaya, Juntas Generales
del Territorio Histórico de Vizcaya, Cámara de Comercio,
Bilbao, Confederación
Industria

y Navegación

(Confebask)

Vasca

de

Empresarial Vasca (Confebask)

(Case C-428/06 to C-434/06) (1)

(State aid — Tax measures adopted by a regional or local
authority — Selective nature)

(2008/C 285/08)

Language of the case: Spanish

Referring court

Tribunal Superior de Justicia de la Comunidad Autónoma del
País Vasco, Spain

Parties to the main proceedings

(C-428/06), Comunidad Autónoma

Applicants: Unión General de Trabajadores de La Rioja (UGT-
Rioja)
La Rioja
(C-429/06), Comunidad Autónoma de La Rioja (C-430/06),
Comunidad Autónoma de Castilla y León (C-433/06), Comu-
nidad Autónoma
(C-431/06), Comunidad
La Rioja
Autónoma
León (C-432/06), Comunidad
de Castilla
Autónoma de Castilla y León (C-432/06)

de

de

y

Operative part of the judgment

Article 87(1) EC is to be interpreted as meaning that, for the purpose
of assessing whether a measure is selective, account is to be taken of
the institutional, procedural and economic autonomy enjoyed by the
authority adopting that measure. It is for the national court, which
alone has jurisdiction to identify the national law applicable and to
interpret it, as well as to apply Community law to the cases before it,
to determine whether the Historical Territories and the Autonomous
Community of the Basque Country have such autonomy, which, if so,
would have the result that the laws adopted within the limits of the
areas of competence granted to those infra State bodies by the Spanish
Constitution of 1978 and the other provisions of Spanish law are not
of a selective nature within the meaning of the concept of State aid as
referred to in Article 87(1) EC.

(1) OJ C 326, 30.12.2006.

Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 11 September
2008 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Hof van
Beroep te Gent (Belgium)) — Hans Eckelkamp, Natalie
Eckelkamp, Monica Eckelkamp, Saskia Eckelkamp, Thomas
Eckelkamp, Jessica Eckelkamp, Joris Eckelkamp v Belgische
Staat

(Case C-11/07) (1)

(Free movement of capital — Articles 56 EC and 58 EC —
Inheritance tax — National rules concerning the assessment
of duties on the transfer of immovable property which do not
allow for mortgage-related charges relating to the immovable
property to be deducted from the value of that property on the
ground that, at the time of death, the person whose estate is
being administered was residing in another Member State —
Restriction — Justification — None)

(2008/C 285/09)

Language of the case: Dutch

Defendants: Juntas Generales del Territorio Histórico de Vizcaya,
Diputación Foral de Vizcaya, Cámara de Comercio, Industria y
Navegación de Bilbao, Confederación Empresarial Vasca
Juntas Generales de
(Confebask), Diputación Foral de Álava,
Álava, Diputación Foral de Guipúzcoa,
Juntas Generales de
Guipúzcoa, Juntas Generales del Territorio Histórico de Vizcaya,
Cámara de Comercio, Industria y Navegación de Bilbao

Referring court

Hof van Beroep te Gent

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Tribunal Superior de
Justicia de la Comunidad Autónoma del País Vasco — State aid
— Interpretation of Article 87(1) EC — Tax measures adopted
by an infra-State body — Rate of tax lower than national rate
and provision for specific tax deductions

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicants: Hans
Eckelkamp, Saskia Eckelkamp, Thomas Eckelkamp,
Eckelkamp, Joris Eckelkamp

Eckelkamp, Natalie

Eckelkamp, Monica
Jessica

Defendant: Belgische Staat