OS ECJ-TF 2/2017 on the ECJ Decision of 21 December 2016 in World Duty Free Group and Others (Joined Cases C-20/15 P and C-21/15 P), Concerning the Requirements of Selective Aid in the Sense of Article 107 of the TFEU

Abstract

This article deals with the decision taken by the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union in World Duty Free Group (formerly Autogrill Espana); Banco Santander and Santusa Holding (Joined Cases C-20/15 P and C-21/15 P), on 21 December 2016, following decisions of the General Court of the European Union of 7 November 2014 in Autogrill Espana and of 7 November 2014 in Banco Santander and Santusa and the Opinion of Advocate General Wathelet of 28 July 2016. The case concerned Spanish tax rules that allowed Spanish enterprises tax amortization of financial goodwill arising from the acquisition of shareholdings in foreign companies, but not from the acquisition of shareholdings in domestic companies. The Grand Chamber reversed the decisions of the General Court and clarified the meaning of selective aid as the term is used in article 107 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) (2007).It held that an aid can be regarded as selective if the national tax measure deviates from the reference framework: it is not necessary to show that the national tax measure actually favours a specific group of undertakings or the production of specific goods.