Judgment of the General Court of 15 November 2018 — Prosegur Compañía de Seguridad v Commission

(Case T-406/11) ¹

(State aid — Provisions concerning corporate tax allowing undertakings which are tax resident in Spain to amortise the goodwill resulting from the acquisition of shareholdings in undertakings which are tax resident abroad — Decision declaring the aid to be incompatible with the internal market and ordering its recovery — Concept of State aid — Selectivity — Reference system — Derogation — Difference in treatment — Justification of the difference in treatment — Undertakings benefiting from the measure — Legitimate expectations)

Language of the case: Spanish

Parties

Applicant: Prosegur Compañía de Seguridad, SA (Madrid, Spain) (represented by: initially, J. Buendía Sierra, E. Abad Valdenebro and M. Muñoz de Juan, and, subsequently, J. Buendía Sierra, E. Abad Valdenebro, R. Calvo Salinero and A. Lamadrid de Pablo, lawyers)

Defendant: European Commission (represented by: R. Lyal, C. Urraca Caviedes and P. Němečková, acting as Agents)

Re:

Application based on Article 263 TFEU and seeking annulment of Article 1(1) and Article 4 of Commission Decision 2011/282/EU of 12 January 2011 on the tax amortisation of financial goodwill for foreign shareholding acquisitions No C 45/07 (ex NN 51/07, ex CP 9/07) implemented by Spain (OJ 2011 L 135, p. 1).

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

Dismisses the action;

Orders Prosegur Compañía de Seguridad, SA to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by the European Commission.

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¹ OJ C 282, 24.9.2011.