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08 October 2021
33/2021
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Competition Weekly e-news
Cases, Judgments, News
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Follow us
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EU Competition
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DG COMP Website
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State aid
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06/10/2021
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Commission invites comments on draft proposal to further facilitate implementation of aid measures promoting the green and digital transition
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The European Commission is inviting Member States and all other interested parties to comment on certain proposed amendments to the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER). The purpose of the proposed revision is to reflect the changes to various sets of State aid Guidelines, which are currently being reviewed and to further facilitate public support for the EU's green and digital transition. The new rules will help set the right foundations for a sustainable economy in a time of recovery from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Member States and other interested parties can respond to the consultation until 8 December 2021.
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Court
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06/10/2021
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Sumal
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The Commission takes note of the preliminary ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union clarifying that liability of parent companies for infringements of EU competition law can extend - under certain conditions - to their subsidiaries, even if those subsidiaries were not addressees of the infringement decision itself.
In particular, the Court clarified that, in the context of a follow-on action for damages, a fully owned subsidiary can be held liable for an infringement of EU competition law of its parent company on the condition that the claimant proves that the subsidiary and the parent company form a single economic unit and the subsidiary is entitled to contest before the national court that it forms a single economic unit with the parent company. In a situation where the Commission has not adopted a decision finding that the conduct by the parent company amounts to an infringement of EU competition law, the subsidiary of an alleged infringer should also be entitled to contest before the national Court the very existence of the alleged infringement.
See also Curia's press release.
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08/10/2021
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Spanish goodwill
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The Commission takes note of the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union upholding the 2018 judgment of the General Court and thus the 2009 and 2011 Commission State aid decisions in this case. In its decisions, the Commission had found that a Spanish measure allowing tax amortization of financial goodwill for foreign shareholding acquisitions had the effect of favouring in a selective manner the foreign expansion of Spanish-resident companies vis-à-vis other companies. On this basis, the Commission had concluded that the measure amounted to illegal and incompatible State aid and had ordered Spain to recover the incompatible aid.
In its judgment, the Court of Justice confirmed that corporate tax provisions can still be selective and hence amount to State aid, even if they may a priori benefit all undertakings subject to corporate tax, if they differentiate between companies in the same legal and factual situation.
Furthermore, in its judgment, the Court of Justice stressed again the importance of the determination of the reference framework and confirmed the Commission carried out the correct analysis in this case.
See also Curia's press release.
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06/10/2021
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Scandlines Danmark and Scandlines Deutschland v Commission
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The Commission takes note of the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union upholding the 2018 judgment of the General Court in this case. In particular, the Court confirmed the Commission’s finding in its 2015 State aid decision that public investments in "hinterland" rail connections which are not open to competition are not subject to State aid rules, since they are not liable to distort competition or affect trade between Member States.
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06/10/2021
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Covestro Deutschland v Commission
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The Commission takes note of the judgments of the General Court upholding a 2018 Commission State aid decision, in which the Commission found that certain exemptions from network charges for baseload consumers in Germany amounted to illegal and incompatible State aid.
In its judgment, the Court confirmed the Commission’s finding that the scheme involved the use of State resources and thus constituted State aid, which the Commission had found to be incompatible with the internal market.
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06/10/2021
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Tempus Energy Germany and T Energy Sweden v Commission
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In case T-167/19, the General Court dismissed the action brought by Tempus Energy Germany and T Energy Sweden, seeking the annulment of European Commission's Decision of 7 February 2018 not to raise objections to the aid scheme for the capacity market mechanism in Poland. Besides the annulment of the Decision, the applicants also requested the Commission to be ordered to produce a series of documents related to the contested Decision.
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Public consultations
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New legislation
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