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- Title
Leaving Coherence Instruments Unapplied.
- Authors
Metselaar, Alke
- Abstract
National courts have an important but difficult role to play in the area of State aid law. To lighten their tasks and improve the coherent application of the State aid rules, national courts can, amongst others, seek advice from the European Commission. On the basis of almost ten years of Dutch case law, this contribution examines why generally very few questions are referred to the Commission, which questions are asked and how answers are incorporated in the final judgment. Based on this case law, and drawing from the experiences in the area of competition law and expert advice in courts generally, the contribution outlines the factors that may deter national courts from seeking advice from the Commission in State aid cases. It is argued that, in theory, the possibility of referring questions to the Commission may serve as a useful instrument to ensure the coherent application of the State aid rules. However, good reasons exist (though not in all cases) for this instrument to be underused in practice.
- Subjects
EUROPEAN Union; ADMINISTRATIVE procedure; GOVERNMENT aid; EUROPEAN Commission; ANTITRUST law
- Publication
Review of European Administrative Law, 2015, Vol 8, Issue 2, p299
- ISSN
1874-7981
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.7590/187479815X14465419060668