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Court of Justice of the European Communities (including Court of First Instance Decisions) |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> Court of Justice of the European Communities (including Court of First Instance Decisions) >> Spain v Commission (State aid) [2002] EUECJ C-36/00 (21 March 2002) URL: http://www.bailii.org/eu/cases/EUECJ/2002/C3600.html Cite as: [2002] EUECJ C-36/, [2002] EUECJ C-36/00 |
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JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Sixth Chamber)
21 March 2002 (1)
(State aid - Regulation (EC) No 1013/97 - Aid to publicly-owned shipyards - Declaration of compatibility of aid to the publicly-owned shipyards in Spain - Failure to comply with conditions - Recovery)
In Case C-36/00,
Kingdom of Spain, represented by S. Ortiz Vaamonde, acting as Agent, with an address for service in Luxembourg,
applicant,
v
Commission of the European Communities, represented by J. Guerra Fernández and K.-D. Borchardt, acting as Agents, with an address for service in Luxembourg,
defendant,
APPLICATION for annulment of Commission Decision 2000/131/EC of 26 October 1999 on the State aid implemented by Spain in favour of the publicly-owned shipyards (OJ 2000 L 37, p. 22),
THE COURT (Sixth Chamber),
composed of: F. Macken (Rapporteur), President of the Chamber, C. Gulmann, R. Schintgen, V. Skouris and J.N. Cunha Rodrigues, Judges,
Advocate General: L.A. Geelhoed,
Registrar: D. Louterman-Hubeau, Head of Division,
having regard to the Report for the Hearing,
after hearing oral argument from the parties at the hearing on 31 May 2001,
after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 11 October 2001,
gives the following
The relevant legislation
1. Notwithstanding the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 3094/95, for the yards under restructuring specified in paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of this article the Commission may declare additional operating aid compatible with the common market for the specific purposes and up to the amounts specified.
...
4. Aid for the restructuring of the publicly-owned yards in Spain may be considered compatible with the common market up to an amount of [ESP] 135 028 million in the following forms:
- interest payments of up to [ESP] 62 028 million in 1988 to 1994 on loans taken on to cover unpaid previously approved aid,
- tax credits in the period 1995 to 1999 of up to [ESP] 58 000 million,
- capital injection in 1997 of up to [ESP] 15 000 million.
All other provisions of Directive 90/684/EEC shall apply to these yards.
The Spanish Government agrees to carry out, according to a timetable approved by the Commission and in any case before 31 December 1997, a genuine and irreversible reduction of capacity of 30 000 cgrt [compensated gross registered tonnes].
The factual framework
(6) Under its August 1997 decision in State aid Case C 56/95 [OJ 1997 C 354, p. 2], the Commission [approved] State aids totalling a maximum of ESP 229.008 billion in support of the restructuring of the publicly-owned yards in Spain. The package of approved aids included special tax credits of up to ESP 58 billion in the period 1995 to 1999.
(7) The reason for the inclusion of these special tax credits was as follows. When the restructuring plan was originally drawn up, the yards were still part of the INI group (Instituto Nacional de Industria) and able to reduce by 28% after-tax losses through INI, in accordance with generally applicable Spanish national legislation, offsetting losses against profits elsewhere in the group. The financial projections under the plan assumed that such tax credits would continue to be available despite the fact that as from 1 August 1995 the yards had formed part of the loss-making State holding company Agencia Industrial del Estado (AIE). Legislation was accordingly passed (Law 13/96 of 30 December [1996, BOE No 315 of 31 December 1996, p. 38974]) allowing companies in such a position to continue, up until 31 December 1999, to receive from the State equivalent amounts to what they would have been entitled under a tax consolidation system. On the basis of the forecast losses under the restructuring plan, it was estimated that these tax credits for the publicly-owned shipyards would amount to 58 billion pesetas. ...
(8) On 1 September 1997, the yards were absorbed into Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI) which, like INI, is able to take advantage of general tax consolidation rules to offset losses against profits.
(9) The aid package was approved on the condition that the total sum, as well as the amounts per category of aid were maximum amounts. ... According to the information available to the Commission within the context of its monitoring of the restructuring plan, the yards received in 1998 a special tax credit of ESP [18.451] billion, notwithstanding the fact [that] the yards also received a tax credit under general measures in 1998, corresponding to their losses in 1997, based on general Spanish tax consolidation rules, as a result of their integration [into] SEPI.
The contested decision
The application
The first plea
Arguments of the parties
Findings of the Court
The second plea
Arguments of the parties
Findings of the Court
The third plea
Arguments of the parties
Findings of the Court
The fourth plea
Arguments of the parties
Findings of the Court
Costs
80. Under Article 69(2) of the Rules of Procedure, the unsuccessful party is to be ordered to pay the costs, if they have been applied for in the successful party's pleadings. Since the Commission has applied for costs, the Kingdom of Spain, which has been unsuccessful, must be ordered to pay the costs.
On those grounds,
THE COURT (Sixth Chamber)
hereby:
1. Dismisses the application;
2. Orders the Kingdom of Spain to pay the costs.
Macken
SkourisCunha Rodrigues
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Delivered in open court in Luxembourg on 21 March 2002.
R. Grass F. Macken
Registrar President of the Sixth Chamber
1: Language of the case: Spanish.