Category Archives: European Court judgment

The Power to Get it Wrong by Dr Stephen Daly (King’s College London)

The assumption underlying competition (and antitrust) rules is that competition is good. As interventions by the State may create distortions to competition, then they are to be governed. Thus, State aid rules regulate the assistance that governments may provide to … Continue reading

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Latest developments in the Micula saga

The Supreme Court was due to hear this week appeals from the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Micula v Romania.  This dispute centres on the clash between an international investment arbitration award (rendered under the ICSID Convention), and … Continue reading

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Application of the private investor test in State aid cases: lessons from the EDF saga.

We are grateful to Sophie Bertin, Rolf Ali, and Geoffrey Kalantari of Covington & Burling for the following note.  We welcome similar contributions (which could be in the form of a case note or article) on any State-aid related topic (including … Continue reading

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Damp squib or shot across the bows?: the General Court gives judgment on the first of the advance ruling tax cases

The General Court today gave judgment on the first of the current round of advance tax ruling (“ATR”) cases (the most famous of which is probably the Apple/Ireland case). The case before it concerned the taxation of excess profits by … Continue reading

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The Court of Justice gives Ms Vestager two Christmas presents: the Commission wins its appeals in Aer Lingus/Ryanair and in Banco De Santander/Autogrill España

In the midst of a flood of significant judgments on a number of areas of EU law handed down today, the CJEU has given judgment on two important State aid cases. In each case, the Commission won its appeal against … Continue reading

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Ferracci and Montessori: ecclesiastical aid and post-Lisbon admissibility

On 15 September 2015 the General Court handed down two parallel judgments in the Ferracci and Montessori cases, concerning Italian rules granting tax exemptions for various “non-commercial” entities, including ecclesiastical institutions. The judgments are noteworthy for their comments on the … Continue reading

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“… but words can never hurt me”: the General Court finds (again) that Minister’s assurances of support in the France Telecom case did not amount to State aid

Joined Cases T-425/04 RENV and T-444/04 RENV France and Orange v Commission EU:T:2015:450 On 2 July, the General Court issued its second judgment finding no State aid in the France Télécom case, its earlier holding that there was no State … Continue reading

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A new fast-track way of challenging a recovery order? Case C-667/13 Estado Português v Banco Privado Português, judgment of 5 March 2015

It has long been Commission orthodoxy that, when a Member State is ordered by the Commission to recover unlawful aid, the role of the national court in those recovery proceedings is little more than that of a rubber stamp. That … Continue reading

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Passing on a discriminatory tax – the Court’s judgments in the Aer Lingus and Ryanair cases

Last week this UKSALA blogger was the happy beneficiary of a perfectly-timed bit of serendipity. Having missed the last flight from Luxembourg to London on Wednesday evening, due to a late-running hearing in the General Court, I was able to … Continue reading

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Hot off the press: judgment in Addison Lee taxi case

The European Court of Justice handed down its judgment in the Addison Lee taxis-in-bus-lanes saga this morning. You can access the judgment here. Commentary will follow in due course …

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