![]() |
[Home] [Databases] [World Law] [Multidatabase Search] [Help] [Feedback] [DONATE] | |||||||||
Court of Justice of the European Communities (including Court of First Instance Decisions) |
||||||||||
PLEASE SUPPORT BAILII & FREE ACCESS TO LAW
To maintain its current level of service, BAILII urgently needs the support of its users.
Since you use the site, please consider making a donation to celebrate BAILII's 25 years of providing free access to law. No contribution is too small. If every visitor this month gives just £5, it will have a significant impact on BAILII's ability to continue providing this vital service.
Thank you for your support! | ||||||||||
You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> Court of Justice of the European Communities (including Court of First Instance Decisions) >> Wienstrom (State aid) [2008] EUECJ C-384/07 (18 December 2008) URL: https://www.bailii.org/eu/cases/EUECJ/2008/C38407.html Cite as: ECLI:EU:C:2008:747, EU:C:2008:747, [2008] EUECJ C-384/07, [2009] 2 CMLR 4, [2008] EUECJ C-384/7 |
[New search] [Printable version] [Help]
(State aid Article 88(3) EC Aid declared compatible with the common market Dispute between the aid recipient and the national authorities concerning the amount of aid unlawfully put into effect Role of the national court)
In Case C-384/07,
REFERENCE for a preliminary ruling under Article 234 EC by the Verwaltungsgerichtshof (Austria), made by decision of 31 July 2007, received at the Court on 13 August 2007, in the proceedings
Wienstrom GmbH
Bundesminister für Wirtschaft und Arbeit,
composed of C.W.A. Timmermans, President of the Chamber, J.'C. Bonichot, J. Makarczyk, L. Bay Larsen (Rapporteur) and C. Toader, Judges,
Advocate General: J. Mazák,
Registrar: K. Sztranc-Sławiczek, Administrator,
having regard to the written procedure and further to the hearing on 23 October 2008,
after considering the observations submitted on behalf of:
Wienstrom GmbH, by H.R. Laurer, Rechtsanwalt,
the Austrian Government, by C. Pesendorfer, acting as Agent,
the Commission of the European Communities, by K. Gross and B. Martenczuk, acting as Agents,
the EFTA Surveillance Authority, by B. Alterskjà...r, N. Fenger and L. Young, acting as Agents,
having decided, after hearing the Advocate General, to proceed to judgment without an Opinion,
gives the following
Legal context
The aid measure
The Commission decision
The dispute in the main proceedings and the questions referred for a preliminary ruling
'(1) Does the last sentence of Article 88(3) EC require that the national court should, on grounds of the prohibition contained in that provision on putting State aid into effect, refuse further grants of State aid to a recipient of aid who under national law is in principle entitled to aid, although the Commission, while regretting the non-notification of the aid, has not adopted either a decision under Article 4(2) of Council Regulation No 659/1999 of 22 March 1999 [laying down detailed rules for the application of Article [88 EC] (OJ 1999 L 83, p. 1)] or a measure under Article 14 of that regulation, and the case-file does not reveal any infringement of the rights of third parties?
(2) Does the prohibition under Article 88(3) EC on putting State aid into effect preclude the application of a provision of national law, if such application is based on the new version of that law, which the Commission has held to be compatible with the common market, although the measure concerns periods of time before that new version and the amendments which were decisive for the declaration of compatibility were not yet applicable to that period, and the case-file does not reveal any infringement of the rights of third parties?'
The questions referred for a preliminary ruling
Costs
On those grounds, the Court (Second Chamber) hereby rules:
The prohibition on putting State aid into effect laid down in the last sentence of Article 88(3) EC does not require a national court, in a situation such as that in the main proceedings, to dismiss an action brought by a State aid recipient concerning the amount of that State aid allegedly due in respect of a period predating a decision of the Commission of the European Communities finding that aid to be compatible with the common market.
[Signatures]
* Language of the case: German.