Brussels, 26/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 26 June 2008, the Court of Justice partially annulled the Commission decision approving Portuguese state aid to Radiotelevisão Portuguesa (RTP), the Portuguese public television company, between 1992 and 1998. In its 2001 decision, the Commission said that national support measures granted when RTP was in the process of becoming a public limited company were in part legal aid, and also tax breaks, which were not deemed to be aid. The Court, however, said that the Commission failed to state grounds in law for its findings on the nature of the tax breaks. The Court concluded, with regard to the “legal” aid, that by not asking Portugal to supply certain RTP audit reports, the Commission failed in its investigation obligations: it was unable to assess the proportionality of the financing of the public service costs, a key criterion in deciding if state aid has been granted. Annulling these parts of the decision, the Court largely found in favour of the Sociedede Independente de Comunicação (SIC), a private company in competition with RTP, and which brought the initial complaint against the Commission. The Commission will now have to carry out a new assessment of the events in question to decide if there was any illegal aid. (C.D./transl.rt)