The Commission takes note of today’s judgment by the General Court, annulling in whole a 2020 Commission’s State aid decision. In its decision, the Commission had found that the 2014 decision of the Dutch gambling authority to prolong six lottery and gambling licenses was in line with EU State aid rules.
The Commission will carefully study the judgment and reflect on possible next steps.

The Commission takes note of the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union upholding its 2018 decision, while slightly reducing the amount of the fine for the breach of the notification requirement.
In its 2018 decision, the Commission found that Altice breached both the notification requirement and the standstill obligation laid down in the EU Merger Regulation by implementing its acquisition of the Portuguese telecommunications operator PT Portugal prior to notification and approval by the Commission.
In its judgment, the Court fully upheld the Commission’s finding that certain provisions of the purchase agreement resulted in Altice acquiring the legal right to exercise decisive influence over PT Portugal and that the company actually exercised such influence in several instances, in breach of the EU Merger Regulation.
With regard to the calculation of the fine, the Commission will carefully study the judgment.

The Commission takes note of the preliminary ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union clarifying the interpretation of Article 101 TFEU, and more particularly the notion of potential competition.

The Commission takes note of the judgment by the General Court which annulled a Commission decision of 2018. In its decision, the Commission fined Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH), its gas supply subsidiary Bulgargaz and its gas infrastructure subsidiary Bulgartransgaz (together the BEH group) for blocking competitors' access to key gas infrastructure in Bulgaria, in breach of EU antitrust rules.
The Commission will carefully study the judgment and reflect on possible next steps.
See also Curia's press release (in PDF format).

The Commission takes note of today’s preliminary ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union, which clarifies the notion of undertaking under EU State aid rules and on economic activities carried out by beneficiaries of State aid. The preliminary ruling stems from questions submitted by the Administrativen sad, Varna (“Administrative Court, Varna, Bulgaria”), referred under Article 267 TFEU.

The Commission takes note of today’s judgment of the General Court, upholding in full a 2020 Commission decision.
In its decision, the Commission approved, under the State aid COVID Temporary Framework, a Belgian €287 million loan and equity injection of around €3 million to support SN Group, which is composed of SN Airholding and its sole subsidiary Brussels Airlines.

The Commission takes note of today’s judgment of the General Court, upholding in full a 2020 Commission decision.
In its decision, the Commission approved, under the State aid COVID Temporary Framework, an Estonian €22 million recapitalisation and a loan with subsidised interest of €8 million to support the aviation company Nordica.

The Commission takes note of today’s judgment of the General Court, upholding in full a 2020 Commission State aid decision.
In its decision, the Commission approved, under the State aid COVID Framework, a Latvian €250 million equity injection to support airBaltic.

The Commission takes note of the judgment of the General Court. In its judgment, the Court dismissed Clariant’s appeal against a 2020 Commission decision imposing a fine of around €156 million on Clariant for participating in a cartel in the chemical sector.
In its judgment, the General Court fully upheld the Commission’s assessment in the decision.

The Commission takes note of today’s judgment by the General Court, upholding in full a 2020 Commission decision.
In its decision, the Commission approved, under EU State aid rules, a €19.3 million Romanian loan guarantee to compensate TAROM for damage suffered between 16 March and 30 June 2020 due to travel restrictions and other containment measures linked to the coronavirus outbreak.
The General Court’s judgment confirms that the Commission was right to consider that the contested measure was compatible with the internal market, and in particular that it was proportionate to the damage suffered by TAROM.

The Commission takes note of today’s judgments by the General Court, upholding in full two 2020 Commission decisions.
In its decisions, the Commission approved, under EU State aid rules, two Italian measures, respectively of €199.45 million and €73.02 million, to compensate Alitalia for the damages suffered between 1 March and 15 June 2020 and between 16 June and 31 December due to travel restrictions and other containment measures linked to the coronavirus outbreak.
The General Court’s judgments confirm that the Commission was right to consider that the contested measures were compatible with the internal market, and in particular that they were proportionate to the damage suffered by Alitalia during the respective time periods.
The General Court also confirms that the Commission did not misuse its powers and did not misapply EU State aid rules, by approving the Italian measures shortly after their notification to the Commission, while two ongoing investigations relating to aid measures granted to Alitalia in 2017 and 2019 were not concluded before the adoption of the contested decisions.
See also the Court's judgment in the second Alitalia case.

The Commission takes note of the judgment of the General Court. In its judgment, the General Court dismissed an action for annulment against a 2020 Commission decision. In its decision, the Commission imposed a total fine of around €60.5 million on Teva and Cephalon for agreeing to delay the market entry of a generic version of Cephalon's drug for sleep disorders, modafinil, after Cephalon's main patent had expired.
In its judgment, the General Court fully upheld the Commission’s assessment and decision.

The Commission takes note of today’s preliminary ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union, which clarifies the concept of ‘start of works’ in the Commission Guidelines on State aid for environmental protection and energy 2014-2020.

The Commission takes note of today’s judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union, upholding a 2014 Commission decision. In its decision, the Commission had ordered Greece to recover unlawful and incompatible State aid granted to Larko General Mining & Metallurgical Company S.A.

The Commission takes note of today’s judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union, upholding two 2020 Commission decisions. In its decisions, the Commission approved Danish and Swedish State guarantees to Scandinavian airline SAS, aimed at partly compensating the airline for the damage suffered due to the coronavirus outbreak.
See also Curia's press release (in PDF format).

The Commission takes note of today’s judgements by the General Court, annulling a 2014 Commission decision. In its decision, the Commission found that a new interpretation of a Spanish tax scheme benefiting companies acquiring foreign shareholdings is incompatible with EU State aid rules.
The Commission will carefully study the judgments and reflect on possible next steps. 
See also Curia's press release (in PDF format).

The Commission takes note of the judgment of the General Court. In its judgment, the Court dismissed Valve’s appeal against a 2021 Commission decision. In its decision, the Commission imposed a fine on Valve for restricting, together with five publishers of PC videogames, cross-border sales of certain PC video games on the basis of the geographical location of users within the European Economic Area, by entering into so called “geo-blocking” practices.
In its judgment, the General Court fully upheld the Commission’s assessment and decision.
The General Court also clarified the rules on the relationship between EU competition law and copyright, confirming the Commission’s position that the latter does not guarantee the copyright holders the opportunity to demand the highest possible remuneration or to engage in conduct such as to lead to artificial price differences between the partitioned national markets in violation of Article 101 TFEU.
See also Curia's press release (in PDF format).

The Commission takes note of today’s preliminary ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union.
The Court of Justice clarifies that Articles 106(1) and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union preclude national legislation, which grants the holder of an exclusive licence for the exploitation of mineral water springs the possibility of obtaining, without a competitive tendering procedure, an extension of its licence for successive five-year periods, (i) where this legislation would result in an abuse of a dominant position by the licence holder through the mere exercise of its preferential rights, or (ii) those rights are liable to create a situation in which the licence holder is led to commit such abuses.

The Commission takes note of today’s judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union annulling a 2021 order of the General Court. In its order, the General Court upheld a 2019 Commission State aid decision. In its 2019 decision, the Commission found that a deduction of a special tax paid by German public casinos operators from the tax base of the trade tax did not constitute State aid under EU State aid rules.
The Court of Justice referred the case back to the General Court that will rule on the substance of the applicants’ arguments.
The Commission will carefully study the judgment.

The Commission takes note of today's judgments of the General Court, upholding a 2016 Commission decision. In its decision, the Commission concluded that selective tax advantages granted by Belgium under its "excess profit" tax scheme are illegal and incompatible under EU State aid rules.
See also Curia's press release (in PDF format).