Case C-558/22,  Fallimento Esperia and GSE: Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 7 March 2024 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Consiglio di Stato – Italy) – Autorità di Regolazione per Energia Reti e Ambiente (ARERA) v Fallimento Esperia SpA, Gestore dei Servizi Energetici SpA – GSE (Reference for a preliminary ruling – National support scheme providing for the award of tradable green certificates to national producers of electricity from renewable energy sources – Import of electricity produced from renewable energy sources in another Member State – Obligation to purchase green certificates – Penalty – Exemption – Directive 2001/77/EC – Directive 2009/28/EC – Support scheme – Guarantees of origin – Free movement of goods – Articles 18, 28, 30, 34 and 110 TFEU – State aid – Articles 107 and 108 TFEU – State resources – Selective advantage)
Date: 2024-03-07
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: State aid, certificate of origin, customs duties, discrimination on the basis of nationality, electrical energy, import levy, import restriction, import tax, measure having equivalent effect, quantitative restriction, renewable energy








C_202402905EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2024/2905


6.5.2024






Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 7 March 2024 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Consiglio di Stato – Italy) – Autorità di Regolazione per Energia Reti e Ambiente (ARERA) v Fallimento Esperia SpA, Gestore dei Servizi Energetici SpA – GSE


(Case C-558/22,
                (1)
Fallimento Esperia and GSE)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - National support scheme providing for the award of tradable green certificates to national producers of electricity from renewable energy sources - Import of electricity produced from renewable energy sources in another Member State - Obligation to purchase green certificates - Penalty - Exemption - Directive 2001/77/EC - Directive 2009/28/EC - Support scheme - Guarantees of origin - Free movement of goods - Articles 18, 28, 30, 34 and 110 TFEU - State aid - Articles 107 and 108 TFEU - State resources - Selective advantage)
(C/2024/2905)
Language of the case: Italian

Referring court

Consiglio di Stato

Parties to the main proceedings


Appellant: Autorità di Regolazione per Energia Reti e Ambiente (ARERA)

Respondents: Fallimento Esperia SpA, Gestore dei Servizi Energetici SpA – GSE

Operative part of the judgment









1.


Articles 28, 30 and 110 TFEU must be interpreted as not precluding a national measure that, first, requires importers of electricity from another Member State that do not demonstrate that the imported electricity is produced from renewable sources by submitting guarantees of origin, to buy from national producers either certificates attesting to renewable origin or electricity produced from renewable sources in proportion to the amount of electricity that they import and, second, provides for penalties to be imposed in the event that that obligation is not complied with, whereas national producers of energy from renewable sources are not bound by such a purchase obligation.












2.


Article 34 TFEU and Directive 2001/77/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 September 2001 on the promotion of electricity produced from renewable energy sources in the internal electricity market, and Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources and amending and subsequently repealing Directives 2001/77 and 2003/30/ EC,must be interpreted as not precluding that national measure if it is established that it does not go beyond what is necessary to achieve the objective of increasing the production of electricity from renewable sources.












3.


Articles 107 and 108 TFEU must be interpreted as not precluding that national measure in so far as the difference in treatment between national producers of electricity from renewable sources and importers of electricity that do not submit guarantees of origin is justified by the nature and general scheme of the reference system of which it forms part.






(1)  
            OJ C 441, 21.11.2022.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/2905/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)