Judgment of the General Court of 15 November 2018 — World Duty Free Group v Commission
(Case T-219/10 RENV) 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: World Duty Free Group, SA, formerly Autogrill España, SA (Madrid, Spain) (represented by: J. Buendía Sierra, E. Abad Valdenebro, R. Calvo Salinero and A. Lamadrid de Pablo, lawyers)
Defendant: European Commission (represented by: R. Lyal, B. Stromsky, C. Urraca Caviedes and P. Němečková, acting as Agents)
Interveners in support of the applicant: Federal Republic of Germany (represented by: T. Henze, acting as Agent), Ireland (represented by: initially, G. Hodge and E. Creedon, and, subsequently, G. Hodge and D. Browne, acting as Agents, and by B. Doherty and A. Goodman, Barristers) and Kingdom of Spain (represented by: M. Sampol Pucurull, acting as Agent)
Re:
Application based on Article 263 TFEU and seeking annulment of Article 1(1) of Commission Decision 2011/5/EC of 28 October 2009 on the tax amortisation of financial goodwill for foreign shareholding acquisitions C 45/07 (ex NN 51/07, ex CP 9/07) implemented by Spain (OJ 2011 L 7, p. 48) and, in the alternative, of Article 4 of that decision.
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
Dismisses the action;
Orders World Duty Free Group, SA to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by the European Commission;
Orders the Federal Republic of Germany, Ireland and the Kingdom of Spain to bear their own respective costs.
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1 OJ C 179, 3.7.2010.