The CJEU rendered a short, straight-forward judgment on the concept of State aid within the meaning of Article 107(1) TFEU. In a request for a preliminary ruling, the Court was asked to address whether a tax exemption may be considered compatible with the State aid rules by a national judge who had identified in a first ruling the State aid nature of the measure. An interesting aspect of this case is the use (or rather lack of use) of the Notice on the enforcement of State aid by national courts, which foresees the possibility to ask the Commission for its opinion on the compatibility of a measure as opposed to the frequent requests for preliminary rulings.
Keywords: Advantage, Enforcement by national courts, Preliminary ruling procedure, Property tax, Selectivity, Shipbuilding, Tax exemption.