CELEX: C2004/035/22
Language: en
Date: 2004-02-07 00:00:00
Title: Case T-388/03: Action brought on 27 November 2003 by Deutsche Post AG and DHL International N.V. /S.A. against the Commission of the European Communities

C 35/14               EN                         Official Journal of the European Union                                          7.2.2004
Action brought on 27 November 2003 by Deutsche                           The Commission failed, in its decision, to take account of the
Post AG and DHL International N.V. /S.A. against the                     fact that, despite the cancellation of a provision created to
         Commission of the European Communities                          cover its obligations to pay pensions to persons employed as
                                                                         postal workers from 1972 to 1992, La Poste continues to
                                                                         be permitted to retain, without consideration, the business
                         (Case T-388/03)                                 premises initially transferred to it by way of compensation for
                                                                         creation of the provision.
                          (2004/C 35/22)
                                                                         The Commission was wrong to take the view that the
                  (Language of the case: German)                         possibility, laid down in statute, of obtaining State guarantees
                                                                         for certain loans does not constitute aid granted to La Poste
                                                                         provided that it has made no use of that facility.
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the               The contested decision is unlawful because, when offsetting
European Communities on 27 November 2003 by Deutsche                     the financial advantages granted to La Poste against the net
Post AG, Bonn (Germany), and DHL International N.V./S.A.,                additional costs of the universal postal service, the Commission
Diegem (Belgium), represented by J. Sedemund and T. Lübbig,              failed to take account of the abovementioned measures.
lawyers.
                                                                         The Commission offset the net additional costs of performing
The applicants claim that the Court should:                              services in the public interest against the corresponding
                                                                         compensation as a whole, without examining whether the
                                                                         compensation was actually paid in respect of the period in
—     annul the decision of the European Commission of                   which the net additional costs in question were incurred.
      23 July 2003 (Aid No N 763/02) and
—     order the defendant to pay the costs.
Pleas in law and main arguments
                                                                         Action brought on 4 December 2003 by Regione Siciliana
                                                                           against the Commission of the European Communities
The action is directed against the decision of the European
Commission, adopted in a procedure pursuant to Article 88(3)
EC, not to raise any objection to the compatibility of a capital                                 (Case T-392/03)
injection of EUR 297,5 million into the Belgian postal
company La Poste, to the exemption of La Poste from
corporation tax and from property tax on real-estate trans-                                       (2004/C 35/23)
actions effected by it in connection with the public supply
mandate, to La Poste’s ability to obtain State guarantees for                               (Language of the case: Italian)
loans taken out by it, to the cancellation of provision made for
pensions, to the overcompensation from which La Poste
benefited in respect of its public service tasks and to two
capital injections amounting to EUR 62 million in total which
were not notified to the Commission.                                     An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
                                                                         ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
                                                                         European Communities by Regione Siciliana, represented by
The applicants submit that the contested decision is incompat-           Giacomo Aiello, Avvocato dello Stato.
ible with Article 87(1) EC and Article 253 EC.
                                                                         The applicant claims that the Court should:
The Commission did not treat the exemption of La Poste from
corporation tax as State aid only because, from 1992 to 2002,            —     annul Order BUDG/C5/ME/jlsD(2003)358046 of 6 Octo-
La Poste made net losses and thus would not have been                          ber 2003 of the Commission of the European Communi-
required to pay corporation tax even if no tax exemption had                   ties on the detailed rules for the recovery of the contri-
been granted. The Commission thus failed to take account of                    bution of the European Regional Development Fund
the fact that, as an abstract rule, the tax exemption automati-                (ERDF), ERDF ‘Gibbesi Dam’ cancelled by Commission
cally grants La Poste a financial advantage over other undertak-               Decision C(2002)4905 of 11 December 2002, and in
ings at least where it makes taxable profits, thereby enabling                 consequence order the Commission of the European
the declaration requirement to be avoided.                                     Communities to pay the costs.