Joined Cases T-211/04 and T 215/04: Judgment of the Court of First Instance of 18 December 2008 — Government of Gibraltar and United Kingdom v Commission (State aid — Aid scheme notified by the United Kingdom regarding the Government of Gibraltar's reform of corporate tax — Decision declaring the aid scheme incompatible with the common market — Regional selectivity — Material selectivity)
Date: 2008-12-18
Institutions: Court of First Instance
Subjects: European Commission, Gibraltar, State aid, United Kingdom, action for annulment (EU), control of State aid, corporation tax, tax exemption, tax reform

21.2.2009

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 44/41

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

Judgment of the Court of First Instance of 18 December
2008 — Government of Gibraltar and United Kingdom v
Commission

(Joined Cases T-211/04 and T 215/04) (1)

(State aid — Aid scheme notified by the United Kingdom
regarding the Government of Gibraltar's reform of corporate
tax — Decision declaring the aid scheme incompatible with
the common market — Regional selectivity — Material
selectivity)

(2009/C 44/69)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicant
in Case T-211/04: Government of Gibraltar (repre-
sented by M. Llamas, barrister, J. Temple Lang, solicitor, and
A. Petersen, lawyer, and initially by K. Nordlander and subse-
quently by K. Karl, lawyers)

Applicant in Case T-215/04: United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland (represented initially by M. Bethell and
E. Jenkinson, Agents, D. Anderson QC and H. Davies, barrister,
and subsequently by E. Jenkinson, E. O'Neill and S. Behzadi-
Spencer, Agents)

Defendant: Commission of the European Communities (repre-
sented by N. Khan and V. Di Bucci, Agents)

Intervener in support of the applicant in Case T-211/04: United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (represented
initially by M. Bethell, Agent, D. Anderson QC and H. Davies,
Jenkinson and E. O'Neill,
barrister, and subsequently by E.
Agents)

Intervener in support of the defendant: Kingdom of Spain (repre-
sented by N. Díaz Abad, abogado del Estado)

Re:

for

annulment

Commission Decision
Applications
2005/261/EC of 30 March 2004 on the aid scheme which the
United Kingdom is planning to implement as regards the
Government of Gibraltar Corporation Tax Reform (OJ 2005
L 85, p. 1).

of

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1. Joins Cases T 211/04 and T 215/04 for the purposes of judg-

ment;

2. Annuls Commission Decision 2005/261/EC of 30 March 2004
on the aid scheme which the United Kingdom is planning to imple-
ment as regards the Government of Gibraltar Corporation Tax
Reform;

3. Orders the Commission to pay the costs of the Government of
Gibraltar and those of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland in Case T-215/04, and to bear its own costs;

4. Orders the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

to bear its own costs as intervener in Case T-211/04;

5. Orders the Kingdom of Spain to bear its own costs as intervener in

Cases T-211/04 and T-215/04.

(1) OJ C 217, 28.8.2004.

Judgment of the Court of First Instance of 18 December
2008 — Muñiz v Commission

(Case T-144/05) (1)

‘Tariff

(Access to documents — Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 —
Documents relating to a meeting of the Working Group of
the
Section
(Mechanical/Miscellaneous)’ of the Customs Code Committee
— Refusal of access — Exception relating to the protection of
the decision-making process)

Nomenclature

Statistical

and

(2009/C 44/70)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicant: Pablo Muñiz (Brussels, Belgium) (represented: initially
by B. Dehandschutter, and subsequently by L. Defalque, lawyers)

Defendant: Commission of the European Communities (repre-
sented by: P. Costa de Oliveira and I. Chatzigiannis, Agents)

Re:

Application for annulment of
the Commission's decision of
3 February 2005 refusing to grant access to certain documents
relating to the September 2004 meeting of the Working Group
of the ‘Tariff and Statistical Nomenclature Section (Mechanical/
Miscellaneous)’ of the Customs Code Committee.