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The General Court of the EU confirms the existence of State aid in the Spanish 'tax lease' system
In its ruling, the court dismissed the appeals filed by the Kingdom of Spain, on the one hand, and Lico Leasing and PYMAR (shipyard association), on the other, against the 2013 European Commission Decision.
In its ruling, the court dismissed the appeals filed by the Kingdom of Spain, on the one hand, and Lico Leasing and PYMAR (shipyard association), on the other, against the 2013 European Commission Decision that considered that the inherent tax advantages the so-called Spanish Tax Leasing System for the construction of ships (SEAF or tax lease) were illegal state aid.
To do this, the General Court relies primarily on the discretion of the administrative authorisations for the application of the scheme, which could potentially have discriminated against other operators in a comparable situation. The court also rejects that in the years affected by the recovery orders (which cover from April 2007 until the adoption of the Decision), the beneficiaries could be protected by the principles of legal certainty or legitimate expectations. However, it does not rule – as it is not the subject of this dispute – on the identity of the true beneficiaries of the aid, limiting itself to confirming that according to the logic of the contested decision (which considers that the investors in the EIGs that provided the construction of the ships were the only beneficiaries,
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