Press Release: Judgment of the Court of Justice in Joined Cases C-428/06 to C-434/06. UGT-La Rioja, Comunidad Autónoma de La Rioja and Comunidad Autónoma de Castilla y León v Juntas Generales del Territorio Histórico de Vizcaya, Diputación Foral de Vizcaya, Cámara de Comercio, Industria y Navegación de Bilbao and Confebask (C-428/06, C-429/06 and C-434/06), Comunidad Autónoma de La Rioja and Comunidad Autónoma de Castilla y León v Diputación Foral de Álava, Juntas Generales de Álava and Confebask (C-430/06

The Court of Justice specifies the criteria to be used in order to determine whether, in the context of state aid, a regional body is institutionally, procedurally and economically autonomous in relation to central government. It is, inter alia, necessary to determine whether the calculation and procedure fixing the amount of financial transfers between administrations may have the effect of compensating for the cost of the regional measure and to examine whether such a measure may result in hidden compensation.