Judgment of the Court of First Instance (Fifth Chamber) of 18 December 2008.Componenta Oyj v Commission of the European Communities.State aid - Metallurgy sector - Acquisition of a shareholding held by an undertaking in a property company and repayment of a loan by that undertaking to the property company in consideration for an investment in that undertaking - Decision declaring the aid incompatible with the common market and ordering its recovery - Private investor test - Valuation of the shares in a property company - Valuation of the real property assets of a company - Duty to state the reasons for the decision - Finding of the Court of its own motion.Case T-455/05.

Judgment // 18/12/2008 // 2 min read
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Keywords Subject of the case Operative part

Procedure – Application initiating proceedings – Formal requirements – Brief summary of the pleas in law on which the application is based (Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, Art. 44(1)(c)) (see paras 44-45)

  1. State aid – Concept – Competence conferred on the Commission and the national court to classify a national measure as State aid – Limited discretion of the Commission (Art. 87(1) EC) (see para. 97)

  2. Acts of the institutions – Statement of reasons – Obligation – Scope – Commission decision on State aid (Arts 87(1) EC and 253 EC) (see paras 98-100)

  3. State aid – Administrative procedure – National measures implemented without having been notified – Faculty open to the Commission to issue a direction to the Member State concerned in order to obtain the information deemed by it to be necessary – Decision adopted by the Commission, without issuing a direction, on the basis of information regarded by it as fragmentary (Council Regulation No 659/1999, Art. 10) (see paras 105-108)

  4. Acts of the institutions – Statement of reasons – Obligation – Scope – Correction of an error of reasoning during the proceedings before the Court – Not permissible (Art. 253 EC) (see para. 121)

Re:

APPLICATION for annulment of Commission Decision 2006/900/EC of 20 October 2005 on the State Aid implemented by Finland for investment aid to Componenta Corporation (OJ 2006 L 353, p. 36).

Operative part

The Court:

  1. Annuls Commission Decision 2006/900/EC of 20 October 2005 on the State Aid implemented by Finland for investment aid to Componenta Corporation;

  2. Orders the Commission to bear its own costs and pay Componenta’s costs;

  3. Orders the Republic of Finland to bear its own costs.

State aids , Competition