In a new judgement concerning the Spanish Tax Lease System, the General Court dismissed the action for annulment brought by Grupo Morera & Vallejo, SL and DSA, Defensa y Servicios del Asegurado SA against Commission Decision 2014/200/EU of 17 July 2013, by which the Commission had found that three of the five tax measures that constituted the Spanish tax lease system constituted state aid in the form of a selective tax advantage partially incompatible with the internal market and ordered their recovery.
In its reasoning, the Court first held that, since Articles 1 and 4(1) of the Commission Decision had already been partially annulled by the Court of Justice in Cases C‑649/20 P, C‑658/20 P and C‑662/20 P, it was no longer necessary to rule on that plea of the action.
As regards the other pleas raised by the applicants, the Court rejected the argument that the scheme could be classified as existing aid and held that the applicants had not demonstrated that the Commission Decision constituted an unacceptable interference with their freedom to conduct business and their right to property.
For further information: see General Court’s Judgement (only available in French and Spanish at the time of publication of this press release)