CELEX: C2003/226/01
Language: en
Date: 2003-09-20 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court of 24 July 2003 in Case C-280/00 (Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesverwaltungsgericht): Altmark Trans GmbH, Regierungspräsidium Magdeburg v Nahverkehrsgesellschaft Altmark GmbH (Regulation (EEC) No 1191/69 — Operation of urban, suburban and regional scheduled transport services — Public subsidies — Concept of State aid — Compensation for discharging public service obligations)

20.9.2003               EN                              Official Journal of the European Union                                                C 226/1
                                                                            I
                                                                      (Information)
                                                       COURT OF JUSTICE
                                                                 COURT OF JUSTICE
                 JUDGMENT OF THE COURT                                          D. Louterman-Hubeau, Head of Division, and subsequently
                                                                                H.A. Rühl, Principal Administrator, for the Registrar, has
                           of 24 July 2003                                      given a judgment on 24 July 2003, in which it has ruled:
in Case C-280/00 (Reference for a preliminary ruling from
the Bundesverwaltungsgericht): Altmark Trans GmbH,                              1.  Regulation (EEC) No 1191/69 of the Council of 26 June 1969
Regierungspräsidium Magdeburg v Nahverkehrsgesell-                                  on action by Member States concerning the obligations inherent
                    schaft Altmark GmbH (1)                                         in the concept of a public service in transport by rail, road and
                                                                                    inland waterway, as amended by Council Regulation (EEC) No
(Regulation (EEC) No 1191/69 — Operation of urban, sub-                             1893/91 of 20 June 1991, and more particularly the second
urban and regional scheduled transport services — Public                            subparagraph of Article 1(1) thereof, must be interpreted as
subsidies — Concept of State aid — Compensation for dis-                            allowing a Member State not to apply the regulation to the
               charging public service obligations)                                 operation of urban, suburban or regional scheduled transport
                                                                                    services which necessarily depend on public subsidies, and to
                           (2003/C 226/01)                                          limit its application to cases where the provision of an adequate
                                                                                    transport service is not otherwise possible, provided however that
                   (Language of the case: German)                                   the principle of legal certainty is duly observed.
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published in
                     the European Court Reports)                                2.  The condition for the application of Article 92(1) of the EC
                                                                                    Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 87(1) EC) that the aid
                                                                                    must be such as to affect trade between Member States does not
                                                                                    depend on the local or regional character of the transport services
In Case C-280/00: Reference to the Court under Article 234 EC                       supplied or on the scale of the field of activity concerned.
by the Bundesverwaltungsgericht (Germany) for a preliminary
ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between
Altmark Trans GmbH, Regierungspräsidium Magdeburg and                               However, public subsidies intended to enable the operation of
Nahverkehrsgesellschaft Altmark GmbH, third party:                                  urban, suburban or regional scheduled transport services are not
Oberbundesanwalt beim Bundesverwaltungsgericht, on the                              caught by that provision where such subsidies are to be regarded
interpretation of Article 92 of the EC Treaty (now, after amend-                    as compensation for the services provided by the recipient under-
ment, Article 87 EC), Article 77 of the EC Treaty (now                              takings in order to discharge public service obligations. For the
Article 73 EC), and Regulation (EEC) No 1191/69 of the                              purpose of applying that criterion, it is for the national court to
Council of 26 June 1969 on action by Member States concern-                         ascertain that the following conditions are satisfied:
ing the obligations inherent in the concept of a public service in
transport by rail, road and inland waterway (OJ, English Special
Edition 1969 (I), p. 276), as amended by Council Regulation                         —     first, the recipient undertaking is actually required to dis-
(EEC) No 1893/91 of 20 June 1991 (OJ 1991 L 169, p. 1), the                               charge public service obligations and those obligations have
Court, composed of: G.C. Rodríguez Iglesias, President,                                   been clearly defined;
J.-P. Puissochet, M. Wathelet, R. Schintgen and
C.W.A. Timmermans (Rapporteur) (Presidents of Chambers),
C. Gulmann, D.A.O. Edward, A. La Pergola, P. Jann, V. Skouris,                      —     second, the parameters on the basis of which the compen-
F. Macken, N. Colneric, S. von Bahr, J.N. Cunha Rodrigues                                 sation is calculated have been established beforehand in an
and A. Rosas, Judges; P. Léger, Advocate General;                                         objective and transparent manner;
 ---pagebreak--- C 226/2                 EN                          Official Journal of the European Union                                                20.9.2003
      —    third, the compensation does not exceed what is necessary to      Marion Roussel Ltd, established in Denham (United Kingdom),
           cover all or part of the costs incurred in discharging the        Hoechst Marion Roussel SA, established in Brussels (Belgium),
           public service obligations, taking into account the relevant      Marion Merrell SA, established in Puteaux (France), Marion
           receipts and a reasonable profit for discharging those            Merrell SA, established in Barcelona (Spain), Sanova Pharma
           obligations;                                                      GmbH, established in Vienna (Austria), Temmler Pharma GmbH
                                                                             & Co.KG, established in Marburg (Germany), Schuck GmbH,
      —    fourth, where the undertaking which is to discharge public        established in Schwaig (Germany), Laboratoires Roussell Lda,
           service obligations is not chosen in a public procurement         established in Mem Martins (Portugal), Laboratoires Roussell
           procedure, the level of compensation needed has been deter-       Diamant SARL, established in Puteaux, Roussel Iberica SA,
           mined on the basis of an analysis of the costs which a            established in Barcelona, (represented by B. Sträter and
           typical undertaking, well run and adequately provided with        M. Ambrosius), Gerot Pharmazeutika GmbH, established in
           means of transport so as to be able to meet the necessary         Vienna, (represented by K. Grigkar), Cambridge Healthcare
           public service requirements, would have incurred in dischar-      Supplies Ltd, established in Rackhearth (United Kingdom),
           ging those obligations, taking into account the relevant          (represented by M. D. Vaughan, QC, K. Bacon, barrister, and
           receipts and a reasonable profit for discharging the              S. Davis, solicitor), and Laboratoires pharmaceutiques Trenker
           obligations.                                                      SA, established in Brussels, (represented by L. Defalque and
                                                                             X. Leurquin), the Court, composed of: G.C. Rodríguez Iglesias,
                                                                             President, J.-P. Puissochet, M. Wathelet, R. Schintgen, C.W.
3.   Article 77 of the EC Treaty (now Article 73 EC) cannot be
                                                                             A. Timmermans (Presidents of Chambers), C. Gulmann, D.A.
     applied to public subsidies which compensate for the additional
                                                                             O. Edward, A. La Pergola, P. Jann (Rapporteur), V. Skouris,
     costs incurred in discharging public service obligations without
                                                                             F. Macken, N. Colneric, S. von Bahr, J.N. Cunha Rodrigues and
     taking into account Regulation No 1191/69, as amended by
                                                                             A. Rosas, Judges; S. Alber, Advocate General; M. Múgica
     Regulation No 1893/91.
                                                                             Arzamendi, Principal Administrator, for the Registrar, has given
                                                                             a judgment on 24 July 2003, in which it:
(1) OJ C 273 of 23.9.2000.                                                   1.   Dismisses the appeal;
                                                                             2.   Orders the Commission of the European Communities to pay the
                                                                                  costs of these proceedings and those relating to the application for
                                                                                  interim relief.
                  JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                                                                             (1) OJ C 70 of 22.3.2003.
                           of 24 July 2003
in Case C-39/03 P: Commission of the European
      Communities v Artegodan GmbH and Others (1)
(Appeal — Directives 65/65/EEC and 75/319/EEC —                                                   ORDER OF THE COURT
Medicinal products for human use — Anorectics: amfepra-
mone, clobenzorex,            fenproporex,      norpseudoephedrine,                                     (First Chamber)
phentermine — Withdrawal of a marketing authorisation —
Competence of the Commission — Conditions for withdrawal)                                               of 24 July 2003
                                                                             in Case C-166/02 (Reference for a preliminary ruling from
                           (2003/C 226/02)                                   the Tribunal Judicial da Comarca de Alcácer do Sal): Daniel
                                                                             Fernando Messejana Viegas v Companhia de Seguros
                                                                                   Zurich SA, Mitsubishi Motors de Portugal SA (1)
        (Languages of the case: German, English and French)
                                                                             (Article 104(3) of the Rules of Procedure — Answer which
                                                                             may be clearly deduced from existing case-law — Second
                                                                             Directive 84/5/EEC — Compulsory insurance against civil
In Case C-39/03 P, Commission of the European Communities,                   liability in respect of motor vehicles — Types of civil
(Agents: R. B. Wainwright and H. Støvlbæk, assisted by                                   liability — Minimum amounts of cover)
B. Wägenbaur): Appeal against the judgment of the Court of
First Instance of the European Communities (Second Chamber,                                             (2003/C 226/03)
Extended Composition) of 26 November 2002 in Joined Cases
T-74/00, T-76/00, T-83/00 to T-85/00, T-132/00, T-137/00                                        (Language of the case: Portuguese)
and T-141/00 Artegodan and Others v Commission [2002]
ECR II-4945, seeking to have that judgment set aside, the                    (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published in
other parties to the proceedings being: Artegodan GmbH,                                            the European Court Reports)
established in Lüchow (Germany), (represented by U. Doepner),
Bruno Farmaceutici SpA, established in Rome (Italy), Essential               In Case C-166/02: Reference to the Court under Article 234 EC
Nutrition Ltd, established in Brough (United Kingdom), Hoechst               by the Tribunal Judicial da Comarca de Alcácer do Sal (Portugal)