Luxembourg, 05/12/2007 (Agence Europe) - In its ruling returned on 29 November, the Court of Justice rejected the appeal of a number of municipal utilities, which had brought complaints regarding tax breaks enjoyed by German nuclear power stations. The power stations enjoy tax exemptions on sums paid out for the disposal of their radioactive waste and the definitive decommissioning of plant. The utilities of Schwäbisch Hall, Tübingen and Uelzen took the view that this exemption, authorised by the decision of the Commission C(2001) 3967 of 2001, equated to unlawful state aid to the tune of several billion euro. They argued that the utilities were in direct competition with the power stations for the provision of energy and waste disposal services. The Court, however, took the same view as the Court of First Instance (case T-92/02), ruling that the utilities (or “Stadtwerke”) had provided no concrete evidence that the measure in question affects them directly. (C.D.)