República Francesa contra Comisión de las Comunidades Europeas.

• Jurisdiction: European Union
• Court: Court of Justice (European Union)
• Writing for the Court: Hirsch
• ECLI: ECLI:EU:C:1996:353
• Docket Number: C-241/94
• Date: 26 September 1996
• Procedure Type: Recurso de anulación - infundado

Judgment of the Court of 26 September 1996. - French Republic v Commission of the European Communities. - Concept of State aid within the meaning of Article 92(1) of the Treaty - State intervention of a social character. - Case C-241/94.

European Court reports 1996 Page I-04551

Summary Parties Grounds Decision on costs Operative part

Keywords

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1. State aid ° Meaning ° Joint financing by a public fund enjoying a degree of latitude as regards measures accompanying social plans drawn up by undertakings experiencing employment problems ° Included ° Conditions

(EC Treaty, Art. 92(1))

2. State aid ° Commission decision ° Legality to be assessed in the light of the information available when the decision was adopted

(EC Treaty, Arts 92 and 173)

Summary

1. Joint financing by a State, through a public fund which enjoys a degree of latitude enabling it to adjust its intervention, of measures accompanying social plans drawn up by undertakings experiencing employment problems constitutes State aid within the meaning of Article 92(1) of the Treaty.

First, the social character of such assistance is not sufficient to exclude it outright from being categorized as aid for the purposes of Article 92(1) of the Treaty, which draws no distinction based on the causes or aims of State intervention but defines it in relation to its effects.

Secondly, since a fund of that kind enjoys a degree of latitude which enables it to adjust its financial assistance, the contribution from that fund, even if not limited sectorially or territorially or by reference to a restricted category of undertakings, is liable to place certain undertakings in a more favourable situation than others by relieving them of certain legal obligations vis-à-vis their employees and thereby mitigating the charges which are normally included in their budgets.

2. The legality of a decision concerning aid is to be assessed in the light of the information available to the Commission when the decision was adopted. In particular, if, despite a specific request addressed to it, a Member State fails to provide the Commission with information enabling it to assess the nature and effects of State intervention in a social plan drawn up by an undertaking experiencing employment problems, the Commission is entitled to conclude that such intervention constitutes State aid within the meaning of Article 92 of the Treaty where it appears that it is liable to mitigate the charges which are normally included in the budget of that undertaking.

Parties

In Case C-241/94,

French Republic, represented by Edwige Belliard, Assistant Director in the Directorate for Legal Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Catherine de Salins, Assistant Director in the same directorate, and Jean-Marc Belorgey, Chargé de Mission in the same directorate, acting as Agents, with an address for service in Luxembourg at the French Embassy, 9 Boulevard du Prince Henri,

applicant,

v

Commission of the European Communities, represented by Jean-Paul Keppenne and Ben Smulders, of its Legal Service, acting as Agents, with an address for service in Luxembourg at the office of Carlos Gómez de la Cruz, of its Legal Service, Wagner Centre, Kirchberg,

defendant,

APPLICATION for annulment of Commission decision SG(94) D/8907 of 27 June 1994 concerning aid to the company Kimberly Clark Sopalin,

THE COURT,

composed of: G.C. Rodríguez Iglesias, President, C.N. Kakouris, D.A.O. Edward, J.-P. Puissochet and G. Hirsch (Rapporteur), (Presidents of Chambers), G.F. Mancini, P.J.G. Kapteyn, C. Gulmann, J.L. Murray, L. Sevón and M. Wathelet, Judges,

Advocate General: F.G. Jacobs,

Registrar: H. von Holstein, Deputy Registrar,

having regard to the Report for the Hearing,

after hearing oral argument from the parties at the hearing on 26 March 1996, at which the French Republic was represented by Catherine de Salins and Jean-Marc Belorgey and the Commission by Ben Smulders and by Xavier Lewis, of its Legal Service, acting as Agent,

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 7 May 1996,

gives the following

Judgment

Grounds

1 By application lodged at the Court Registry on 2 September 1994, the French Republic brought an action under the first paragraph of Article 173 of the EC Treaty for annulment of Commission Decision SG(94) D/8907 of 27 June 1994 (hereinafter "the contested decision").

2 By the contested decision, the Commission classified as State aid within the meaning of Article 92(1) of the Treaty the financial participation of the Fonds National de l' Emploi (National Employment Fund, hereinafter "the FNE") in the implementation of a social plan by the company Kimberly Clark Sopalin (hereinafter "Kimberly Clark").

3 Kimberly Clark, whose main business is the manufacture and processing of cellulose wadding, has a manufacturing plant at Sotteville-les-Rouen, which, at the beginning of 1993, employed 465 people. As part of a restructuring operation, Kimberly Clark decided to concentrate solely on the manufacture of paper handkerchiefs, and at the same time to modernize its industrial equipment, reorganized its production system, adopted new working methods and reduced its workforce by 207.

4 In accordance with the French regulations on...