Spain: State aid determination annulled because aid recipients were erroneously identified (CJEU judgment)
The “Spanish tax lease system” constituted illegal state aid on the grounds that the EC’s decision erroneously identified the recipients of the aid.
Recipients were erroneously identified (CJEU judgment)
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) today annulled in part a decision of the European Commission (EC) finding that the “Spanish tax lease system” constituted illegal state aid on the grounds that the EC’s decision erroneously identified the recipients of the aid.
The joined cases are: Spain v Commission (C-649/20), Lico Leasing and Pequeños y Medianos Astilleros Sociedad de Reconversión v Commission (C-658/20), and Caixabank and Others v Commission (C-662/20).
Summary
As explained in a release [PDF 143 KB] from the CJEU, in 2006, several complaints were made to the EC concerning the application of the “Spanish tax lease system” to certain finance lease agreements which enabled shipping companies to purchase ships built by Spanish shipyards at a 20% to 30% rebate, to the detriment of shipyards in other member states.
The EC found in July 2013 that three of the five tax measures comprising the system were illegal state aid and ordered the national authorities to recover that aid from certain economic interest groupings of investors—which the EC found to be the recipients of the aid (rather than the shipping companies who received part of the tax benefit when they purchased a new vessel).
The CJEU held that the EC erred by designating the investors as the sole recipients of the aid, finding that the shipping companies also obtained an advantage from the arrangements through a combination of legal transactions between private entities. The CJEU therefore annulled in part the decision of the EC, insofar as it designated the investors as the sole beneficiaries of the aid and ordered recovery of all the aid exclusively from the investors.
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