L_2011285EN.01002501.xml
| 1.11.2011 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | L 285/25 |
COMMISSION DECISION
of 24 May 2011
on State aid to certain Greek casinos C 16/10 (ex NN 22/10, ex CP 318/09) implemented by the Hellenic Republic
(notified under document C(2011) 3504)
(Only the Greek text is authentic)
(Text with EEA relevance)
(2011/716/EU)
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular the first subparagraph of the Article 108(2) thereof,
Having regard to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, and in particular to the Article 62(1)(a) thereof,
Having called upon interested parties to submit their comments pursuant to the provisions cited above (1) and having regard to their comments,
Whereas:
I. PROCEDURE
| (1) | On 8 July 2009 the Consortium Loutraki SA – Club Hotel Loutraki SA (2) (the ‘complainant’ or ‘Loutraki’) lodged with the European Commission (the ‘Commission’) a complaint concerning Greek legislation on a system of levies on admissions to casinos, alleging that such system provided State aid to three operators, namely Regency Casino de Mont Parnès, Corfu Casino and Casino Thessaloniki (3). By e-mail message of 7 October 2009 the complainant stated that it did not object to the disclosure of its identity. On 14 October 2009 the Commission services met representatives of the complainant. By letter of 26 October 2009 the complainant provided further elements in support of its complaint. |
| (2) | On 21 October 2009 the Commission communicated the complaint to Greece and invited Greece to clarify the issues it brought forward. By letter dated 17 November 2009 Greece requested further time to respond, which was granted by the Commission by e-mail message of 18 November 2009. On 27 November 2009 Greece replied to the Commission. |
| (3) | On 15 December 2009 the Commission forwarded the reply of Greece to the complainant. The complainant replied on 29 December 2009 with observations on the reply of Greece. |
| (4) | On 25 February, 4 and 23 March and 13 April 2010, the Commission requested further information from Greece, to which Greece replied on 10 March, 1 and 21 April 2010. |
| (5) | By decision of 6 July 2010 (hereinafter the ‘Opening Decision’), the Commission informed Greece that it initiated the formal investigation procedure set forth in Article 108(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union in regard of the measure implemented by Greece, specifically the charging of lower tax on admissions in certain casinos. The Opening Decision was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (4), inviting interested parties to submit their comments. |
| (6) | By letter of 9 August 2010 Greece requested an extension of the deadline to respond, which was granted by the Commission by letter of 18 August 2010. By letter of 6 October 2010 the Commission received comments from Greece on the Opening Decision. On 12 October 2010 the Greek authorities submitted additional information regarding the contested measure. |
| (7) | Following the opening of the procedure, the Commission received observations from two interested parties: the representatives of the beneficiary casino of Mont Parnès, reacted to the opening by letter of 4 August 2010; the representatives of the private Loutraki casino reacted to the opening by letters of 8 and 25 October 2010. |
| (8) | By letter of 29 October 2010, the Commission forwarded the abovementioned observations to the Greek authorities, in order to give them with the opportunity to react. By letter of 6 December 2010 the Greek authorities presented their comments to third parties’ observations, in order to clarify, inter alia, certain aspects of the application of the subject-scheme and the interpretation of the Greek legislation relevant to the analysis of the case. |
II. THE MEASURE CONCERNED
II.1. The measure
| (9) | The measure under assessment is the fiscal discrimination that the Greek authorities have put into place in favour of certain casinos through the implementation of several simultaneous partially mandatory legal provisions (5) concerning:
| — | the fixing of a uniform 80 % levy on the price of admission tickets, and |
| — | the setting of two unequal regulated prices of admission tickets at EUR 6 and EUR 15 respectively for publicly and privately owned casinos, | thereby placing the latter at a competitive disadvantage. |
| (10) | The measure under assessment concerns public casinos and one private casino (Thessaloniki), which was exceptionally allowed to benefit from the treatment of public casinos, as further described herein below. |
II.2. The beneficiaries
| (11) | The beneficiaries of the measure under analysis are the following Greek casinos: Mont Parnès (6), Thessaloniki (7), Corfu (8) and Rhodes (9). |
| (12) | At the time of the Opening Decision, the lower regulated price of admission tickets of EUR 6 only applied to three Greek casinos: Mont Parnès Casino (casino privatised by 49 %, whereas 51 % of shares are still held by the State), Thessaloniki Casino (private casino, but assimilated to public casinos) and Corfu Casino (public casino). The Commission notes that the Rhodes Casino and the Corfu Casino ceased benefiting from the measure in April 1999 (10) and August 2010 (11) respectively, since they stopped charging the lower price for admission tickets at that respective moment in time when they were fully privatised. |
II.3. The relevant national provisions
| (13) | Before the opening of the market in 1994, only three casinos operated in Greece, namely the casinos of Mont Parnès, Corfu, and Rhodes. At that time, these casinos were public undertakings and operated as State-owned service-clubs of the Greek Tourism Office (EOT) (12). The price of admission tickets in these casinos was set by way of decisions of the General Secretary of the EOT (13), as follows:
| — | Mont Parnès – in 1991 EOT set the price of admission tickets at 2 000 drachmas (approximately EUR 6 (14)); |
| — | Corfu – in 1992 EOT set the price of admission tickets at 1 500 drachmas and it 1997 it adjusted it to 2 000 drachmas; |
| — | Rhodes – in 1992 EOT set the price of admission tickets at 1 500 drachmas. | |
| (14) | The market was opened in 1994, when 6 newly created private casinos joined the existing State owned casinos based on the Law 2206/1994 (15). The Law of 1994 provided for the granting of a total of 14 licenses aimed at the existing 3 State owned casinos of Rhodes, Mont Parnès and Corfu, and 11 newly created private casinos (16). However only 6 of the 11 new private casinos were licensed and began operating, namely the casinos in Chalcidice, Loutraki, Thessaloniki, Achaia (Rio), Xanthi (Thrace) and Syros (during 1995-96), and the remaining 5 licenses were abolished. |
| (15) | Law 2206/1994 (Article 2(10)) provided that the price of admission tickets to the casinos in certain areas would be set by Ministerial Decision, and that the same Decision would determine the percentage of the price that would represent revenue to the Greek State. Indeed on 16.11.1995 a Ministerial Decision (17) of the Minister for Finance established that, from 15 December 1995 all operators of casinos under Law 2206/1994 (18) must charge a price for admission tickets of 5 000 drachmas (19) (approximately EUR 15 (20)). According to this Ministerial Decision, these casino enterprises are further subject to a legal obligation to pay 80 % of the face value of each ticket as public levy to the State, while the remaining 20 %, including the appropriate VAT, constitute revenue for the casino (21). The Ministerial Decision provides that casinos may grant free entrance (22). Nevertheless in all cases, all casinos are under the obligation to pay the respective 80 % of the regulated price to the State, regardless of what they actually charge consumers (23). According to the Ministerial Decision, the payments of ‘public fees’ are performed by each casino on a monthly basis (24). The Ministerial Decision also provides for specified discounts for tickets valid for 15 or 30 days (25). |
| (16) | All the new private casinos created (since 1995) under the Law 2206/1994 implemented the Ministerial Decision of 1995 and applied– in principle, as described in the previous paragraph – the EUR 15 price for admission tickets, with the only exception of the Thessaloniki Casino (as further described below). |
| (17) | However, the State owned casinos of Mont Parnès, Corfu and Rhodes continued to operate as service clubs of EOT (26) and did not implemented the acts of 1994-95 until the later granting of the licence provided by the Law 2206/1994. |
| (18) | According to the various observations and descriptions of the national provisions presented by the Greek authorities, the Commission understands that the system worked in practice as follows: |
| (19) | The Greek authorities explained that the operation of casinos in Greece is governed, generally, by Law 2206/1994. The special provisions applicable to the public casinos which existed prior to this Law are considered exceptions from the application of the general provisions of the Law 2206/1994 (and the implementing Ministerial Decision of 1995), pending the privatisation of these public casinos and the issuance of the licenses envisaged in the Law. |
| (20) | Consequently, the Ministerial Decision of 1995 was not deemed to apply to the public casinos until the date they were licensed under Law 2206/1994 – either as concerns the standard admission price of EUR 15, or as concerns the requirement to remit to the State 80 % of that price. The public casinos began paying the relevant 80 % only upon the later |
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