Brussels, 01/02/2001 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday, the Commission decided to turn to the Court of Justice against six States (Germany, Spain, Finland, Italy, Portugal and Sweden) as they have not levied VAT on subsidies paid by the EU to companies producing dried fodder. It observes that this is a violation of Article 11 of the 6th VAT Directive which requires VAT to be levied on subsidies directly linked to the price. According to the Commission, the aid in question allows a company to achieve a profitable price in a sector where the sales price is normally lower than the cost price. The Commission also considers that this situation creates a distortion of competition between manufacturers in different Member states, since some have VAT deducted from their grants while others do not.