On November 9th 2023, the Advocate General (“AG”) Pitruzzella published his Opinion on the Apple state aid case. More specifically, in Commission v Ireland & Apple (Case C‑465/20 P), the AG proposed to the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) that it annul the General Court’s (“GC”) ruling in the Apple case, refer the cases back…

European Union and United States legislators are increasingly concerned about the potentially distortive effects “foreign” subsidies may have on M&A transactions. EU and US authorities are both poised to require transaction parties to provide extensive information to allow authorities to evaluate subsidies granted by other jurisdictions. How do these initiatives compare, and how will the…

Introduction State aid rules have existed since the Rome Treaty and have a negative integration logic: Member States should refrain from distorting competition by helping their own undertakings (an in-depth analysis on state aid, in Hancher, Ottervanger and Slot, see here). These rules naturally trigger tension between what Member States can do with their money…

With its judgment of 8.11.2022, the ECJ’s Grand Chamber put an end to the Commission’s recent case practice on transfer pricing rulings. In 32 paragraphs (paras 81-112), it seems to have demolished an 8-year laborious effort of the Commission’s DG COMP and Legal Service to employ State aid rules against the advance transfer pricing agreements…

Following its exit from the European Union, the UK is no longer bound by the EU’s rules governing public subsidies.  At the end of April 2022, the UK Parliament passed the Subsidy Control Act 2022, which sets out a new framework for granting and controlling public subsidies.  The Act is expected to enter into full…

Exactly one year after the European Commission (Commission) proposed the Anti-Subsidy Regulation (the Regulation) (discussed on KCLB already here and here), on May 5, 2022, EU legislators launched their “trilogue” negotiations to reach an agreement on the final text. The Regulation is a global first. It combines elements of traditional merger control, EU State aid review…

On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded the territory of Ukraine and triggered the largest European war since 1945. The war has led to unprecedented loss of human lives and the biggest refugee crisis since World Word II, according to the UNHCR. At this stage, the economic impact of the war is difficult to predict. Some…

On 2 September 2021, the Court of Justice (C-57/19 P) overturned the Judgment of the General Court of 15 November 2018 in the case Tempus Energy v Commission (T-793/14). In its ruling, the Court of Justice provided extensive guidance on which elements may (not) give rise to “doubts” as to the compatibility of a State…

For many Britainophiles in the EU, the noise of the Brexiteers and their shouting about “world-beating Britain” during the last five years of the departure process have been hard to bear. However, the constant banging has also at times obscured the excellent work still being carried out by legal minds on the other side of…

On March 4, 2021, the Court of Justice (‘CJEU’) delivered a judgment in the State aid case Fútbol Club Barcelona (C-362/19 P), quashing the ruling of the General Court of February 26, 2019 (T-865/16) and upholding the Commission’s Decision of July 3, 2016 (SA.29769). In its judgment, the CJEU provided helpful guidance to assess the…