Case C-417/24, Different Media: Request for a preliminary ruling from the Curtea de Apel Bacău (Romania) lodged on 11 June 2024 – Different Media SRL v Ministerul Antreprenoriatului și Turismului – Agenția pentru Întreprinderi Mici și Mijlocii, Atragere de Investiții și Promovare a Exportului Iași
Date: 2024-06-11
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: State aid, application of EU law, control of State aid, drafting of EU law, principle of legal certainty, regulation (EU), reimbursement of aid, retroactivity of a law








C_202405602EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2024/5602


30.9.2024






Request for a preliminary ruling from the Curtea de Apel Bacău (Romania) lodged on 11 June 2024 – Different Media SRL v Ministerul Antreprenoriatului și Turismului – Agenția pentru Întreprinderi Mici și Mijlocii, Atragere de Investiții și Promovare a Exportului Iași


(Case C-417/24, Different Media)

(C/2024/5602)
Language of the case: Romanian

Referring court

Curtea de Apel Bacău

Parties to the main proceedings


Appellant - applicant: Different Media SRL

Respondent - defendant: Ministerul Antreprenoriatului și Turismului - Agenția pentru Întreprinderi Mici și Mijlocii, Atragere de Investiții și Promovare a Exportului Iași

Questions referred







1.


Does the adoption of a regulation correcting the official Romanian language version of an EU regulation, namely Commission Regulation (EU) 2021/452 correcting the Romanian language version of Regulation (EU) No 651/2014, (1) have the effect of retroactively applying the corrected version, from the entry into force of the original regulation, or does it produce effects only for the future, after the entry into force of the correcting regulation, in a situation in which the national authorities granted State aid in accordance with the conditions laid down in the original Romanian language version of Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 (2) and have requested, following the entry into force of Regulation (EU) 2021/452, the recovery of the State aid granted?










2.


Does the equivalence of the language versions of an EU regulation mean that the national authorities of a Member State may rely, against a beneficiary of State aid granted in accordance with the original Romanian language version of Commission Regulation (EU) No 651/2014, on the provisions of Commission Regulation (EU) 2021/452 correcting the Romanian language version of Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 in order to request the recovery of State aid, in the absence of any fault on the part of the aid beneficiary?










3.


Are EU law and, in particular, the principles of the protection of legitimate expectations and legal certainty, to be interpreted as precluding the recovery of State aid granted in compliance with the conditions initially laid down in the Romanian language version, conditions which, however, did not exist in the other language versions of Regulation (EU) No 651/2014, when the correction was made by means of Regulation (EU) 2021/452 to the Romanian language version after the State aid was granted?






(1)  Commission Regulation (EU) 2021/452 of 15 March 2021 correcting the Romanian language version of Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 declaring certain categories of aid compatible with the internal market in application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty (OJ 2021 L 89, p. 1).

(2)  Commission Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 of 17 June 2014 declaring certain categories of aid compatible with the internal market in application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty (OJ 2014 L 187, p. 1).


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/5602/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)