Luxembourg, 16/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - In a judgment delivered on 11 July, the Court of First Instance rejected the action brought by a German private clinic, which alleged that German regulations on aid for public hospitals infringed the Community regulation on state aid (case T-167/04). What emerges from both case law and the European regulation is that the European Commission is under no obligation to initiate the formal investigation called for, since the aid was not disproportionate to the objective of maintaining health services of general interest, the Court said.
In 2003, Asklepios Kliniken GmbH, a German private company which specialises in hospital management, lodged a complaint with the Commission against the German system which allows the state to compensate the operating losses of public hospitals, which are Asklepios' competition. The Court judged, however, that the Commission had done nothing wrong, either in refusing to launch the investigation or on going beyond the deadline for appraisal of the case. In fact, the assessment of the complaint was held up while awaiting the outcome of a similar case (C-280/00), the ruling on which was published in July 2003 (Altmark Trans - see EUROPE 8511). Since the delay was only six months and the ruling was relevant, it was justified, said the Court.
The Court's decision in this case supports the Altmark Trans judgment, that state support for services of general interest does not constitute state aid and does not require prior notification of the Commission, so long as a number of criteria are satisfied: - the beneficiary must provide a clearly defined public service; - the parameters on the basis of which compensation is calculated must have been previously established in an objective and transparent manner; - the compensation must not exceed the costs occasioned by the provision of the public service, less the income received for the provision of the service in question; - the beneficiary has been chosen following a call for tenders so as to ensure that the compensation will not exceed the costs of a well-run company with the means appropriate to provide the pubic service.
This judgment is consistent with the Commission's policy on exemptions by category to the regulation on state aid. DG Competition has just closed a consultation procedure on the new draft regulations seeking to exempt more subsidies from the notification requirement contained in the rules on state aid in the EC Treaty. Such a simplification of procedure should reduce the administrative load of both member states and the Commission without there being any increased risk of competition distortion. The Commission, having noted stakeholders' comments, intends to adopt the final version of the regulation before summer 2008. (cd)