Judgment of the General Court (Seventh Chamber) of 9 December 2014 —
Netherlands Maritime Technology Association v Commission

(Case T‑140/13)

State aid — Spanish scheme of early depreciation of certain assets acquired through financial leasing — Decision finding no State aid — Formal investigation procedure not initiated — Serious difficulties — Circumstances and length of the preliminary examination — Insufficient and incomplete examination

1.                     State aid — Examination by the Commission — Preliminary review and main review — Compatibility of aid with the internal market — Difficulties of assessment — Commission’s duty to initiate the main review procedure — Serious difficulties — Concept — Objective nature — Burden of proof — Circumstances the existence of such difficulties to be determined — Duration insufficiency or incompleteness of the examination by the Commission at the time of the preliminary investigation procedure (Arts 107(1) TFEU and 108(2) and (3) TFEU; Council Regulation No 659/1999, Arts 4(4), and 13(1)) (see paras 44-48)

2.                     State aid — Concept — Selective nature of the measure — Tax scheme permitting the early depreciation of certain assets acquired through financial leasing — General measure applicable without distinction to all economic operators (Art. 107(1) TFEU) (see paras 54, 90, 99, 100)

3.                     State aid — Examination by the Commission — Preliminary review and main review — Aid incompatible with the internal market — Difficulties of assessment — Commission’s duty to initiate the main review procedure — Circumstances enabling the existence of such difficulties to be determined — Mere lodging of a complaint or observations from third parties — Not included (Arts 107(1) TFEU and 108(2) and (3) TFEU; Council Regulation No 659/1999, Arts 4(4), and 13(1)) (see paras 58, 60)

4.                     State aid — Planned aid — Examination by the Commission — Preliminary phase — Duration — Mandatory nature of the two-month time-limit established to ensure legal certainty for the notifying Member State — Consequences where that time-limit exceeded — Significant exceeding of the time-limit capable of constituting an indication of the existence of serious difficulties requiring the main procedure to be opened — Assessment on a case-by-case basis (Art. 108(2) and (3) TFEU; Council Regulation No 659/1999, Art. 4(5)) (see paras 64, 66, 73, 74, 110)

Re:

APPLICATION for annulment of the Commission Decision of 20 November 2012 relating to State aid SA 34736 (12/N) concerning the implementation by the Kingdom of Spain of a tax scheme permitting the early depreciation of certain assets acquired through financial leasing.

Operative part

The Court:

1. Dismisses the action as unfounded;

2. Orders Netherlands Maritime Technology Association to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by the European Commission;

3. Orders the Kingdom of Spain to bear its own costs.