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… 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. …

… The Court of First Instance upheld the Commission’s conclusion that there was no , on the following grounds. 29. …

… The temporal (second branch of the fourth ground of appeal) 139. In paragraphs 113 to 122 of the judgment under appeal, the Court of First Instance examined whether the earlier award of licences to Orange and SFR had given those undertakings a temporal over Bouygues Télécom. …

… . …

… 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. (46) 93. …

… of the and, consequently, unrelated to the internal logic of the measure in question. (55) 100. …

… More generally, it is clear from the case-law that the question whether the condition is satisfied must be assessed on a case-by-case basis, in order to ascertain whether or not, in the light of its nature, scope, method of implementation and effects, the measure in question involves accruing exclusively to certain undertakings or certain sectors. (38) If it is established that an of that nature exists, even action in the form of refraining from imposing a new tax …

… JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE (Fifth Chamber, Extended Composition) 10 April 2008 (*) (State aid - Directive 2001/81/EC - National measure establishing an emission trading scheme for nitrogen oxides - Decision finding the aid compatible with the common market - Admissibility - - Measure lacking character) In Case T-233/04, Kingdom of the Netherlands, represented by H. …

… To the extent that the measure in question is aimed at the undertakings which are the biggest polluters, that objective criterion is furthermore in conformity with the goal of the measure, that is the of the , and with the internal logic of the system. 89 Second, as stated in the contested decision, only those undertakings covered by the scheme must comply, on pain of fine, with an emission standard or strict ‘Performance Standard Rate’ (PSR) which will be gradually reduced …

… Substance 50 The Kingdom of the Netherlands puts forward two pleas alleging the infringement, first, of Article 87 EC, and second, of the requirement to state reasons. 51 Regarding the first plea, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, supported by the Federal Republic of Germany, claims that the measure in question does not constitute an financed through State resources and, in the alternative, that the condition of is not fulfilled. …

… In those decisions, the Commission had considered that an emission allowance was equivalent to an intangible asset the value of which was determined by the market and that, therefore, the fact that the State gave it to undertakings free of charge gave them an ; that by not selling the allowance, by auction for example, the State deprived itself of a resource, with the result that such an implied a transfer of State resources; and that, finally, the at issue was …

… Equally, in Community law, there are no provisions of primary or secondary law prohibiting a Member State - even as a precautionary measure, as is the case with the general prohibition in Article 87 EC - from adopting certain measures in the context of the implementation of Directive 2003/87 and the emissions allowances trading scheme. …

… On the contrary, under Article 176 EC, a Member State may maintain or introduce more stringent measures than are required by Community law as long as those measures are compatible with the Treaty in general (see, by analogy, Case C-6/03 Deponiezweckverband Eiterköpfe [2005] ECR I-2753, paragraphs 27 to 32). 113 The Court considers that the differences, referred to in paragraph 112 of the present order, between the procedure for reviewing State aid and the review of NAPs reveal a fundamental …

… When a choice is possible between several military objectives for obtaining a similar military , the objective to be shall be that the attack on which may be expected to cause the least danger to civilian lives and to civilian objects. 4. …

… It is prohibited to employ methods or means of warfare which are intended, or may be expected, to cause widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural . ...” …

… Article 48 – Basic rule “In order to ensure respect for and of the civilian population and civilian objects, the Parties to the conflict shall at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants and between civilian objects and military objectives and accordingly shall direct their operations only against military objectives.” …

… 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. …

… on the sectors of activity concerned. …

… It follows that neither the fiscal nature nor the economic or social aim or the objectives of of the or of human safety can suffice to remove it completely from the outset from the scope of the article (see, as regards selective exemptions from social security charges, Case 173/73 Italy v Commission [1974] ECR 709, paragraphs 27 and 28, and Maribel, paragraph 25; as regards a interest subsidy scheme made available to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) aimed …