Judgment of the General Court (Fifth Chamber) of 26 November 2015 —
Comunidad Autónoma de Galicia and Retegal v Commission
(Joined Cases T‑463/13 and T‑464/13)
State aid — Digital television — Aid for the deployment of digital terrestrial television in remote and less-urbanised areas in Spain — Decision declaring aid to be partly compatible and partly incompatible with the internal market — Concept of undertaking — Economic activity — Advantage — Service of general economic interest — Selective nature — Article 107(3)(c) TFEU — Obligation to state reasons
1. Actions for annulment — Natural or legal persons — Measures of direct and individual concern to them — Decision of the Commission addressed to a Member State and finding an aid incompatible with the internal market — Action by a regional authority having granted that aid — Admissibility (Art. 263, fourth para., TFEU) (see para. 36)
2. Actions for annulment — Natural or legal persons — Measures of direct and individual concern to them — Individual concern — Commission decision finding aid incompatible with the internal market — Action by the aid recipient — Admissibility (Art. 263, fourth para., TFEU) (see paras 37-40)
3. Competition — Union rules — Addressees — Companies — Concept — Exercise of an economic activity — Deployment, maintenance and operation of digital terrestrial television in remote and less-urbanised areas — Existence of a market — No exercise of State prerogatives — Included (Art. 107(1) TFEU) (see paras 53-63)
4. State aid — Concept — Grant of an advantage to the beneficiaries — Receipt of funds intended for the improvement and extension of the terrestrial digital television network in remote and less-urbanised areas — Included (Art. 107(1) TFEU) (see paras 67-72)
5. State aid — Examination by the Commission — Examination of an aid scheme as a whole — Lawfulness (Arts 107(3) TFEU and 108 TFEU) (see paras 78, 136, 159)
6. State aid — Concept — Selective nature of the measure — Measure benefiting operators using a type of technology to the exclusion of operators using other technologies — Included (Art. 107(1) TFEU) (see paras 84, 85)
7. Competition — Undertakings entrusted with the operation of services of general economic interest — Broadcasting sector — Determination of services of general economic interest — Distinction between the provision of a broadcasting service and the operation of broadcasting networks — Lawfulness (Art. 107(1) TFEU) (see paras 103, 104, 106, 107)
8. State aid — Commission decision — Judicial review — Free assessment of the facts and evidence (see para. 109)
9. State aid — Prohibition — Exceptions — Discretion of the Commission — Judicial review — Limits (Art. 107(3) TFEU) (see paras 119-121)
10. State aid — Prohibition — Exceptions — Account taken of the situation existing at the time the measure adopted (Art. 107(3) TFEU) (see paras 127, 128, 132)
11. State aid — Examination by the Commission — Communication of the switchover to digital — Legal nature — Indicative rules of conduct implying a self-limitation on the Commission’s discretion (Arts 107(3) TFEU and 108 TFEU; Commission Notice COM(2003) 541 final) (see para. 142)
12. State aid — Prohibition — Exceptions — Aid capable of being regarded as compatible with the internal market — Assessment having regard to Article 107(3)(c) TFEU — Taking into account previous practice — Not included (Art. 107(3)(c) TFEU) (see para. 146)
13. Judicial proceedings — Application initiating proceedings — Formal requirements — Brief summary of the pleas in law on which the application is based — Similar requirements for claims invoked in support of a plea (Rules of Procedure of the General Court (1991), Art. 44(1)(c)) (see para. 147)
14. State aid — Examination by the Commission — Consecutive State interventions inseparably linked to each other — Assessment of the measures taken in their entirety — Lawfulness (Arts 107(3) TFEU and 108 TFEU) (see paras 158, 159)
Re:
| APPLICATION for annulment of Commission Decision 2014/489/EU of 19 June 2013 on State aid SA.28599 [(C 23/2010) (ex NN 36/010, ex CP 163/2009)] implemented by the Kingdom of Spain for the deployment of digital terrestrial television in remote and less-urbanised areas (other than Castilla-La Mancha) (OJ 2014 L 217, p. 52). |
Operative part
The Court:
2. | | Orders Comunidad Autónoma de Galicia and Redes de Telecomunicación Galegas Retegal, SA (Retegal) to bear their own costs and to pay those incurred by the European Commission and by SES Astra. |