The Determination of Public Service Competition and State Aid Rules: The Saremar Case

In the recent judgments rendered in the RAS v European Commission and Saremar v European Commission cases the General Court of the EU has considered the compatibility of compensation payment granted to provider of public service tasks with the State aid rules. Crucially, in order to comply with the Altmark doctrine, which sets out under which conditions public service compensation does not constitute a state aid, the Court said that public authorities, among other things, have to provide for such compensation before the operating losses inherent in the performance of the public task take place. The Court also clarified that in cases where the Altmark doctrine could not apply and then public service compensation may amount to aid, a similar requirement should be met to comply with the criteria set out by the Commission and for such compensation to be declared compatible with the internal market pursuant to the exception in Article 106(2) TFEU.
The article is available here. 

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