User:Inaspicious/Altmark principles

User:Inaspicious/Altmark principles The Altmark Principles emerge from a judgement by the [Court of Justice of the European Communities] regarding the operation of urban, suburban and regional scheduled transport services. The principles concern the provision of [public subsidies] for such services and how the concept of [state aid] — Compensation for discharging public service obligations)

Annotated judgement of the court

Regulation (EEC) No 1191/69 of the Council of 26 June 1969 on action by Member States concerning the obligations inherent in the concept of a public service in transport by rail, road and inland waterway, as amended by Council Regulation (EEC) No 1893/91 of 20 June 1991, and more particularly the second subparagraph of Article 1(1) thereof, must be interpreted as allowing a Member State not to apply the regulation to the operation of urban, suburban or regional scheduled transport services which necessarily depend on public subsidies, and to limit its application to cases where the provision of an adequate transport service is not otherwise possible, provided however that the principle of [legal certainty] is duly observed.

The condition for the application of Article 92(1) of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 87(1) EC) that the aid must be such as to affect trade between Member States does not depend on the local or regional character of the transport services supplied or on the scale of the field of activity concerned.

However, public subsidies intended to enable the operation of urban, suburban or regional scheduled transport services are not caught by that provision where such subsidies are to be regarded as compensation for the services provided by the recipient undertakings in order to discharge [public service obligations].

For the purpose of applying that criterion, it is for the national court to ascertain that the following conditions are satisfied:

─ first, the recipient undertaking is actually required to discharge public service obligations and those obligations have been clearly defined;

─ second, the parameters on the basis of which the compensation is calculated have been established beforehand in an objective and transparent manner;

─ third, the compensation does not exceed what is necessary to cover all or part of the costs incurred in discharging the public service obligations, taking into account the relevant receipts and a reasonable profit for discharging those obligations;

─ fourth, where the undertaking which is to discharge public service obligations is not chosen in a public procurement procedure, the level of compensation needed has been determined on the basis of an analysis of the costs which a typical undertaking, well run and adequately provided with means of transport so as to be able to meet the necessary public service requirements, would have incurred in discharging those obligations, taking into account the relevant receipts and a reasonable profit for discharging the obligations.

Article 77 of the EC Treaty (now Article 73 EC) cannot be applied to public subsidies which compensate for the additional costs incurred in discharging public service obligations without taking into account [Regulation No 1191/69], as amended by [Regulation No 1893/91].

External links

• State Aid in the Transport Sector, European Centre for Judges and Lawyers, esp'y s2.2.1