The outbreak of a novel virus infection has a significant economic impact. Several Member States are considering or have already announced support measures for citizens or companies. Some support measures may entail State aid within the meaning of Article 107(1) TFEU. On this webpage you will find information about the applicable legal rules.
The outbreak of a novel virus infection has a significant economic impact. Several Member States are considering or have already announced support measures for citizens or companies. Some support measures may entail State aid within the meaning of Article 107(1) TFEU. On this webpage you will find information about the applicable legal rules.
The outbreak of a novel virus infection has a significant economic impact. Several Member States are considering or have already announced support measures for citizens or companies. Some support measures may entail State aid within the meaning of Article 107(1) TFEU. On this webpage you will find information about the applicable legal rules.
The outbreak of a novel virus infection has a significant economic impact. Several Member States are considering or have already announced support measures for citizens or companies. Some support measures may entail State aid within the meaning of Article 107(1) TFEU. On this webpage you will find information about the applicable legal rules.
ECN+Directive 2019/1 was published in the EU Official Journal on 14/1/2019. The Member States have until 3 February 2021 to implement it by ensuring national competition authorities enjoy resources, independence and powers to enforce EU competition rules more effectively.
The European Commission welcomes the provisional political agreement reached by the European Parliament and the Council on the Commission proposal of March 2017 for a Directive to make Member States' competition authorities even more effective enforcers of EU antitrust rules.
On 17 May 2017 the Commission approved in principle the Amending Regulation to the GBER (General Block Exemption Regulation). All language versions will be published on this website as soon as they are available. These versions are published for information purposes only and without prejudice to the authentic texts that will be published in the Official Journal in all EU languages. The Regulation will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal.
The European Commission has fined Sony, Panasonic and Sanyo a total of €166 million. The companies and Samsung SDI coordinated prices and exchanged sensitive information on supplies of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, used for example in laptops and mobile phones, in breach of EU antitrust rules.
8/12/2016 - The EU Court of Justice ruled on questions referred by a Spanish court on the compliance of legislation which applies a mandatory tariff scale to the fees charged by "procuradores" in Spain, with Article 101 TFEU read in conjunction with Article 4(3) TEU. Article 4(3) TEU requires Member States not to deprive the competition rules of their effectiveness. The Court held that the Spanish legislation was in line with Article 101 TFEU read in conjunction with Article 4(3) TEU.
30/11/2016 - The EU Court of Justice ruled on the Commission's appeal against a 2010 General Court ruling that had annulled a Commission decision of 2004. The Commission's 2004 decision had found that a shareholder loan offered by France to France Télécom (now Orange) constituted incompatible state aid. The Court dismissed the appeal.
The European Commission is consulting stakeholders on how to revise the Code of Best Practice on the conduct of State aid control proceedings. The Commission intends to carry out a review to reflect, on the one hand, the amendments brought to the State aid framework (in particular with regard to the Procedural Regulation No 1589/2015) and, on the other hand, to take account of the experience gained with the implementation of the Code. The objective is to ensure coherence and consistency in the application of the various instruments of the State Aid framework (including the Simplified Procedure Notice and its recent public consultation) and to draw conclusions on the implementation and effectiveness of the Code of Best Practice.
The European Commission is consulting stakeholders on how to revise the Code of Best Practice on the conduct of State aid control proceedings. The Commission intends to carry out a review to reflect, on the one hand, the amendments brought to the State aid framework (in particular with regard to the Procedural Regulation No 1589/2015) and, on the other hand, to take account of the experience gained with the implementation of the Code. The objective is to ensure coherence and consistency in the application of the various instruments of the State Aid framework (including the Simplified Procedure Notice and its recent public consultation) and to draw conclusions on the implementation and effectiveness of the Code of Best Practice.
26/10/2016 - The EU Court of Justice ruled on an appeal by the Greek public electricity company DEI against a General Court judgment of October 2014. The General Court had annulled a Commission decision of 2011 finding that preferential electricity tariffs granted to Aluminium of Greece (AoG) between January 2007 and March 2008 were in breach of EU state aid rules. The Court of Justice has now set aside the 2014 ruling and referred the case back to the General Court. The Court of Justice held in particular that the extension of the duration of existing aid must be regarded as an alteration of that existing aid and constitutes, therefore, new aid.
26/10/2016 - The EU Court of Justice ruled on an appeal by France Télécom (now Orange) against a General Court ruling of 2015. The 2015 judgment had upheld a Commission decision of 2011 finding that the reform of the method of financing the pensions of civil servants working for France Télécom constituted State aid compatible with the internal market on certain conditions set by the Commission. The Court of Justice has now dismissed the appeal and upheld the Commission's decision.
12/10/2016 - The EU Court of Justice ruled on an appeal against a General Court judgment of March 2015. The 2015 ruling had partly annulled a Commission decision of October 2008 finding German public support measures in favour of the company Abalon Hardwood Hessen to be in line with EU state aid rules. The German company Pollmeier Massivholz had brought an action for the annulment of this decision. The General Court had annulled the 2008 decision insofar as it had found that two state guarantees granted to Abalon involved no state aid within the meaning of the EU rules. The German Land of Hessen had appealed this judgment. The Court of Justice has now dismissed the appeal and confirmed the General Court's 2015 ruling.
11/10/2016 - The EU General court ruled on an action for annulment brought by the Danish weekly magazine Søndagsavisen against a Commission decision of January 2013. The Commission's 2013 decision had found a Danish media support scheme to be in line with EU state aid rules. The court dismissed the action and upheld the Commission's 2013 decision.
30/9/2016 - The Commission welcomes today's judgment rejecting the appeal brought by Trajektna Luka Split against the Commission's decision to reject its antitrust complaint. The judgment confirms the right for the Commission to reject complaints which do not appear to raise a sufficient level of European Union interest and confirms that the Commission carried out a proper assessment of the matters of fact and law in this case. With the Decision, the Commission, in its discretion to set priorities, concluded that there were insufficient grounds for conducting a further investigation of the matters complained of. (F-1)
15/9/2016 - The Commission welcomes today's judgement on the request for preliminary ruling submitted by the Supreme Court in Poland as regards an application of PGE against the Polish energy regulator on the enforcement of annual adjustments to State aid by way of compensation for stranded costs in view of changes in the structures of the corporate groups to which the stranded costs beneficiaries belong. The dispute concerns the manner of calculating the stranded costs due in view of changes in corporate structures. By the ruling the Court of Justice reaffirms the exclusive competence of the Commission in assessing the compatibility with the internal market of State aid measures and allows a Member State, when performing the annual adjustments of the stranded costs granted to take a dynamic approach by taking into consideration continuously evolving market circumstances including changes in corporate structures that are subsequent to the moment when the Commission approved the aid.
14/9/2016 - The applicant appealed against the Commission Decision C(2013)7285 concerning port fees in Croatia. The Commission welcomes the judgment of the General Court dismissing the action of the appellant. Today's judgment fully confirms the Commission's finding that the measure complained of by Trajektna luka Split did not involve the transfer of State resources and thus did not constitute state aid.
