CELEX: C2005/330/38
Language: en
Date: 2005-12-24 00:00:00
Title: Case T-318/00: Judgment of the Court of First Instance of  19 October 2005  — Freistaat Thüringen v Commission (State aid — Misuse of aid — Likelihood of circumventing the recovery order — Recovery of aid from the companies which acquired the current assets from the initial recipient)

24.12.2005   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 330/15
            
         Judgment of the Court of First Instance of 19 October 2005 — Freistaat Thüringen v Commission
   (Case T-318/00) (1)
   
   (State aid - Misuse of aid - Likelihood of circumventing the recovery order - Recovery of aid from the companies which acquired the current assets from the initial recipient)
   (2005/C 330/38)
   Language of the case: German
   Parties
   
      Applicant(s): Freistaat Thüringen (Germany) (represented by: M. Schütte, lawyer)
   
      Defendant(s): Commission of the European Communities (represented by: K.D. Borchardt and V. Kreuschitz, Agents, assisted by C. Koenig)
   
      Intervener(s) in support of the applicant(s): Federal Republic of Germany, represented by W.-D. Plessing and T. Jürgensen, Agents, assisted by R. Bierwagen, lawyer
   
      Intervener(s) in support of the defendant(s): ODS Optical Disc Service GmbH (Hamburg, Germany) (represented by I. Brinker and U. Soltész, lawyers)
   Subject-matter of the case
   Application for annulment of Commission Decision 2000/796/EC of 21 June 2000 on State aid granted by Germany to CDA Compact Disc Albrechts GmbH (Thuringia) (OJ 2000 L 318, p. 62),
   Operative part of the judgment
   The Court:
   
               1)
            
            
               Annuls Commission Decision 2000/796/EC of 21 June 2000 on State aid granted by Germany to CDA Compact Disc Albrechts GmbH (Thuringia) in so far as:
               
                           —
                        
                        
                           in Article 1(1) it includes, as part of the aid granted to R. E. Pilz GmbH & Co Beteiligungs KG, Pilz & Robotron GmbH & Co. Beteiligungs KG and Pilz Albrechts GmbH for the establishment, operation and consolidation of the CD plant in Albrechts (Thuringia), an amount of DEM 54,7 million under the Land of Bavaria's guarantee, an amount of DEM 3 million as debt waiver, and an amount of DEM 63,45 million as part of the investment grants and allowances provided by the Land of Thuringia and the Land of Bavaria;
                        
                     
                           —
                        
                        
                           in Article 1(2) it includes as part of the aid granted for the restructuring of CDA Compact Disc Albrechts GmbH an amount of DEM 33 million in share capital in PA/CD Albrechts and an amount of DEM 21,3 million in interest-rate advantages;
                        
                     
                           —
                        
                        
                           in Article 1(2) it states that the purchase price of DEM 3 million and the DEM 15 million loan granted by the LfA constitutes aid ‘for the restructuring of CDA Compact Disc Albrechts GmbH’;
                        
                     
                           —
                        
                        
                           in Article 2 it orders the recovery of the aid referred to in Article 1 from CDA Datenträger Albrechts GmbH and LCA Logistik Center Albrechts GmbH, as well as any other undertaking to which R.E. Pilz GmbH & Co. Beteiligungs KG's, Pilz & Robotron GmbH & Co. Beteiligungs KG's and Pilz Albrechts GmbH's assets and/or infrastructure have been transferred or will be transferred in such a way as to evade the consequences of that decision.
                        
                     
         
               2)
            
            
               Dismisses the remainder of the action.
            
         
               3)
            
            
               Orders the Commission to pay its own costs and those of the Land of Thuringia and orders the Federal Republic of Germany and ODS Optical Disc Service GmbH to bear their own costs.
            
         
      (1)  OJ C 355 of 9.12.2000