Case C-245/16: Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 6 July 2017 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunale Amministrativo Regionale per le Marche — Italy) — Nerea SpA v Regione Marche (Reference for a preliminary ruling — State aid — Regulation (EC) No 800/2008 — General exemption by category — Scope — Article 1(6)(c) — Article 1(7)(c) — Concept of ‘undertaking in difficulty’ — Concept of ‘collective insolvency proceedings’ — Company granted State aid under a regional operational programme of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) subsequently admitted to an arrangement with creditors as a going concern — Withdrawal of the aid — Obligation to reimburse the advance paid)
Date: 2017-07-06
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: European Regional Development Fund, State aid, aid to undertakings, bankruptcy, company in difficulties, composition, control of State aid, financial solvency, operational programme, reimbursement of aid








C_2017283EN.01000702.xml










28.8.2017   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 283/7





Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 6 July 2017 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunale Amministrativo Regionale per le Marche — Italy) — Nerea SpA v Regione Marche
(Case C-245/16) (1)

((Reference for a preliminary ruling - State aid - Regulation (EC) No 800/2008 - General exemption by category - Scope - Article 1(6)(c) - Article 1(7)(c) - Concept of ‘undertaking in difficulty’ - Concept of ‘collective insolvency proceedings’ - Company granted State aid under a regional operational programme of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) subsequently admitted to an arrangement with creditors as a going concern - Withdrawal of the aid - Obligation to reimburse the advance paid))
(2017/C 283/10)
Language of the case: Italian

Referring court

Tribunale Amministrativo Regionale per le Marche

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: Nerea SpA

Defendant: Regione Marche

intervening parties: Banca del Mezzogiorno — MedioCredito Centrale SpA

Operative part of the judgment







1.


Article 1(7)(c) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 800/2008 of 6 August 2008 declaring certain categories of aid compatible with the common market in accordance with Articles [107 and 108 TFEU] (General block exemption Regulation) must be interpreted as meaning that the concept of ‘collective insolvency proceedings’ that it refers to covers all collective insolvency proceedings for undertakings provided for by national law, whether they are opened by the national administrative or judicial authorities of their own motion or on the initiative of the undertaking concerned;










2.


Article 1(7)(c) of Regulation No 800/2008 must be interpreted as meaning that the fact that an undertaking satisfied the conditions for being subject to collective insolvency proceedings according to national law, which is for the referring court to establish, is sufficient to prevent State aid being granted to it under that regulation or, if such aid has already been granted to it, to hold that it could not be granted in accordance with that regulation provided that those conditions were satisfied on the date on which that aid was granted. However, aid granted to an undertaking in compliance with Regulation No 800/2008 and, in particular, Article 1(6) thereof, cannot be withdrawn solely on the ground that that undertaking has been subject to collective insolvency proceedings subsequent to the date on which that aid was granted to it.






(1)  OJ C 279, 1.8.2016.