ECJ confirms irrelevance of the Altmark conditions for compatibility assessment under Article 106(2) TFEU
- 13/03/2017
- Articles
On 8 March 2017, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) handed down its judgement on appeal in case C-660/15 P, Viasat Broadcasting UK (“Viasat”) Ltd v European Commission. The case concerns aid granted to the Danish public broadcaster TV2/Danmark for the execution of public service obligations. In particular, the case raises the issue of the distinction between the assessment of the existence of state aid and the compatibility of such aid in relation to services of general economic interest.
In line with the General Court’s view and Advocate General Wahl’s opinion, the ECJ concluded that the conditions laid down in the Altmark judgment, i.e., the landmark judgment on services of general economic interest, are relevant for determining whether an advantage has been granted and therefore, whether a measure constitutes state aid pursuant to Article 107(1) TFEU. By contrast, the Altmark conditions have no bearing on the assessment of the compatibility with the internal market under Article 106(2) TFEU. Consequently, the ECJ dismissed the appeal brought by Viasat against the General Court’s judgement.
The judgment of the ECJ is interesting as it is the first time that the ECJ has considered the relationship between Article 106(2) and Article 107(1) TFEU as regards the application of the Altmark conditions. A summary of the background of the case was provided in VBB on Competition Law, Volume 2016, No. 11, p. 11.