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… Conditions of application of Article 87(1) EC The criteria governing the nature of the 45 By its first plea in law, the applicant complains that the Commission, in essence, misconstrued the concept of aid, particularly the criteria of and of for the purposes of Article 87(1) EC, and that it erred in its application of that concept. 46 As regards the criterion of an , it has been recognised in settled case-law that the definition of aid is more general …

… nature of any generated by the AGL. …

… in the light of the objective pursued by the measure in question (Adria-Wien Pipeline, cited in paragraph 35 above, paragraph 41). 63 As the parties unanimously acknowledged, including at the hearing, the principal objective underpinning the AGL is the of the , although that is not immediately apparent from the wording of the AGL. 64 That objective essentially entails the promotion in the construction industry of the use of aggregates which are the by-products of or waste from …

… JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Third Chamber) 8 September 2011 (*) (Appeal - State aid - Article 87(1) EC - Emission trading scheme for nitrogen oxides - Classification of the national measure as State aid - Decision declaring aid to be compatible with the common market - Concept of - financed through State resources - of the - Obligation to state the reasons for decision - Admissibility) In Case C-279/08 P, APPEAL under Article 56 of the Statute of the Court …

… That Member State considers that the objective of the scheme in question is to the and takes into account the specific characteristics of the major polluters in order to attain it. …

… In addition, for the reasons set out in paragraphs 59 to 79 above, the Court upheld the second ground of appeal put forward by the Commission which was intended to call into question the General Court’s analysis in relation to the character of the mentioned above. …

… as . …

… If that scheme grants an to the undertakings which participate therein, in spite of the burdens which it entails, that is in nature since it favours only a limited number, albeit substantial and determined on the basis of objective criteria, of undertakings which emit NOx in the Netherlands. 45. A large number of previous cases confirm the forgoing analysis. (27) 46. …

… The proof that undertakings not subject to the measure in question can be fined if they exceed the emission ceilings may be necessary in order to regard the of being able to avoid such a fine as , since in the absence of that proof the situation of those undertakings will not logically be comparable, in relation to that , to that of the undertakings subject to that measure. …

… First, the EEA awarded maximum points to the only company which had submitted a certificate that was regarded as being relevant, without analysing the real contribution of the company to the of the . Secondly, it wrongly classified as ‘intentions on the subject’ an environmental policy which the applicant actually follows and the real contribution of which to the of the it explained. …

… When signing specific agreements for performing tasks under the framework contracts, the agreement will first be offered to the company offering the most offer within that particular area of expertise. Competence in both and award criteria must be maintained throughout the contract. …

… It also contains the details of the scores allocated to the applicant and to the successful tenderers and the comments for each area of expertise and each criterion. 128 The conclusion must therefore be drawn that, on the basis of all that information, the applicant would have been able immediately to identify the characteristics and relative of the tenders . …

… The nature of the tax legislation at issue in the main proceedings 59 According to the Region of Sardinia, the difference in treatment as between resident undertakings and non-resident undertakings does not constitute a . …

… grounds as expressly referred to in Article 46(1) EC. 41 In particular, justification for that tax is said to be found in a new regional policy for the of the and countryside of Sardinia. …

… confers an only in the part of the national territory in which the measure applies (see Portugal v Commission, paragraphs 53 and 57, and Joined Cases C-428/06 to C-434/06 UGT-Rioja and Others [2008] ECR I-6747, paragraphs 47 and 48). 61 However, it also follows from that case-law that, in order to determine whether a measure is , where it is adopted by an infra-State body which enjoys autonomy vis-à-vis the central government of the kind enjoyed by the Region of Sardinia, it is …

… of human health and the , on the other.’ …

… The purpose of this Regulation is to ensure a high level of of human health and the , including the promotion of alternative methods for assessment of hazards of substances, as well as the free circulation of substances on the internal market while enhancing competitiveness and innovation. … 3. …

… of human health and the and the free movement of substances while enhancing competitiveness and innovation. 36 The obligation to register monomer substances is designed to human health and the since those substances have inherent characteristics liable to have an adverse effect on them. 37 The objective of free movement of substances in the internal market while enhancing competitiveness and innovation is liable, not to call into question the definition of ‘monomer …

… Consequently tax rules such as those adopted by Sardinia satisfy the condition of a - - for the purposes of Article 87(1) EC. 140. …

… of the - of health - Cohesion of the tax system - Island regions) I - Introduction 1. …

… In short, therefore, restrictions on the freedom to provide services, such as those brought about by the Sardinian tax rules, cannot be justified on grounds of the of the . b) The of health 91. In addition to the of the , the Autonomous Region of Sardinia relies on the of health as a ground justifying the contested tax rules. 92. …

… of the , so that it would not have been possible to bring the thermoelectric station at issue legally into operation, those tenders had to be regarded as ‘unsuitable’ for the purposes of Article 20(2)(a) of Directive 93/38. 42 It must be held that technical specifications such as those at issue in the present case, which stem from the national and Community legislative requirements on of the , must be regarded as essential if the installations - the supply and bringing …

… of the tender as well as the name of the successful tenderer. …’ Background to the dispute and the pre-litigation procedure 5 On 2 July 2003, Dimosia Epikhirisi Ilektrismou AE (DEI) (the public power corporation) published a call for tenders for the study, supply, transport, installation and bringing into operation of two similar thermoelectrical units and their auxiliary equipment for the thermoelectric station at Atherinolakkos on the island of Crete (Greece). 6 That first call for tenders …

… extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable by the contracting entities, the time-limits laid down for open and restricted procedures cannot be adhered to; …’ 4 Article 41(4) of Directive 93/38 provides: ‘The contracting entities … shall, promptly after the date on which a written request is received, inform any eliminated candidate or tenderer of the reasons for rejection of his application or his tender and any tenderer who has made an admissible tender of the characteristics and relative …

… An environmental levy such as the AGL imposes an exceptional duty and does not confer a on certain undertakings, but imposes rather a disadvantage on producers of aggregates. …

… In particular, the Member States are free, in balancing the various interests involved, to set their priorities as regards the of the and, as a result, to determine which goods or services they are to decide to subject to an environmental levy. …

… No undertakings in the United Kingdom other than producers of aggregates are subject to that levy, with the result that that ‘’ is not in any meaning of the term. 71 According to the United Kingdom, an environmental levy is to be distinguished from a measure that gives relief from taxation inasmuch as the former imposes an exceptional burden on a particular sector, whereas the latter provides a in the form of an exception to the system of burdens normally imposed …

… The applicants do not dispute the nature of the exemptions, which in this case is the result of regional specificity (see, to that effect, Case C-88/03 Portugal v Commission [2006] ECR I-7115). 176 In addition, it cannot be denied that the social security exemptions at issue mitigate the costs which are normally included in the budget of an undertaking and thereby confer a financial on the beneficiaries as compared with undertakings liable to pay the contributions (Case C-387/ …

… The purported absence of any grant of advantage, owing to the purportedly compensatory effect of the measures under consideration 174 In order to constitute State aid for the purposes of Article 87(1) EC, a measure must, in particular, be capable of conferring an , to the exclusive benefit of certain undertakings or certain sectors of activity. …