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Germany v Commission  ∙ Case T-347/09 ∙ Annotation by Iris Hohmann

Annotation on the Judgment of General Court of 12th September 2013 in Case T-347/09, Federal Republic of Germany v European Commission

Iris Hohmann


The General Court agreed with the decision of the Commission that the free of charge transfer of land of natural national heritage to nature conservation organisations and the financial support of large-scale nature conservation projects constitute State aid. The nature conservation organisations are classified as undertakings insofar as they carry out economic activities like the sale of wood and the awarding of hunting and fishing leases. If the nature conservation organisations are to carry out further activities the economic nature of those activities has to be examined on a case-to-case basis. The decision provides interpretations of the concept of undertaking, of the advantage for nature conservation organisations and of the application of Altmark case-law. Those interpretations lead to a wide scope for the State aid rules.
Keywords: Advantage, Altmark criteria, Ancillary activities, Concept of undertaking, Environment, Nature conservation organisations.

Ass. Jur. Iris Hohmann, LL.M. Eur., is Policy Analyst at CEP | Centre for European Policy, Freiburg/Germany.

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