Memo: State aid: Commission welcomes Court ruling on excise duty exemptions for Alumina production

The European Commission welcomes the judgment by the European Court of Justice (Case C 89/08) setting aside the judgment of the General Court (Joined Cases T-50/06, T-60/06, T-62/06 and T-69/06) in the "Alumina" case. The General Court had annulled a Commission's decision of December 2005 declaring exemptions from the excise duty on mineral oils used as fuel for alumina production in France, Ireland and Italy incompatible with EU state aid rules and ordering their recovery. The General Court had raised on its own initiative the plea that the Commission decision was insufficiently motivated as regards the classification of the measure as new and not as existing aid, and had given judgment without discussing the matter with the parties. The Court of Justice referred the case back to the General Court for examination of the pleas put forward by the three Member States and the two companies seeking annulment of the Commission decision.

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