Case C‑660/15 P
Viasat Broadcasting UK Ltd
v
European Commission
(Appeal — State aid — Article 107 (1) TFEU — Article 106 (2) TFEU — Measures taken by the Danish authorities in favour of the Danish public service broadcaster TV2/Danmark — Compensation for the costs involved in the performance of public service obligations — Decision declaring the aid compatible with the internal market)
Summary — Judgment of the Court (First Chamber), 8 March 2017
Judicial proceedings—Oral part of the procedure—Reopening—No obligation to reopen the oral part of the procedure in order to allow the parties to submit observations in response to the Advocate General’s Opinion
(Art. 252, second para., TFEU; Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 23; Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, Art. 83)
State aid—Concept—Measures designed to compensate for the cost of public service missions undertaken by an undertaking—Not included—Conditions set out in the Altmark judgment
(Art. 107(1) TFEU)
Competition—Undertakings entrusted with the operation of services of general economic interest—Subject to the treaty rules—Criteria for the assessment of the compatibility of State financing with the internal market—Absence of a condition requiring the operator in charge of the service to operate efficiently
(Art. 106(2) TFEU)
State aid—Concept—Measures designed to compensate for the cost of public service missions undertaken by an undertaking—Distinction between the Altmark test, designed to determine the existence of aid, and the test of Article 106 (2) TFEU, enabling it to be established whether aid is compatible with the internal market
(Arts 106 (2) TFEU and 107(1) TFEU)
Acts of the institutions—Statement of reasons—Obligation—Scope
(Art. 296 TFEU)
See the text of the decision.
(see paras 12-14)
See the text of the decision.
(see paras 24-26)
See the text of the decision.
(see para. 30)
In order to assess a measure under Article 106 (2) TFEU, the Commission is not required to examine whether the conditions laid down by the case-law in Altmark, in particular the second and fourth of those conditions, are met. Verification of the conditions laid down in the Altmark case-law occurs upstream, that is to say in the examination of the issue of whether the measures at issue must be characterised as State aid. That issue must be resolved before the one which consists in examining, where necessary, if incompatible aid is nevertheless necessary to the performance of the tasks assigned to the recipient of the measure at issue, under Article 106 (2) TFEU.
By contrast, the conditions laid down in the Altmark case-law are no longer to be applied where the Commission, having found that a measure must be characterised as aid, in particular in so far as the recipient undertaking is unable to pass the test of comparison with a typical undertaking, well run and adequately equipped so as to be able to meet the necessary public-service requirements, examines whether that aid can be justified under Article 106 (2) TFEU.
(see paras 33-35)
See the text of the decision.
(see para. 43)