Existence of aid under Article 87(1) EC Treaty. Under Article 87(1) EC Treaty, ‘any aid granted by a Member State or through State resources in any form whatsoever which distorts or threatens to distort competition by favouring certain under- takings or the production of certain goods shall, in so far as it affects trade between Member States, be incompatible with the common market’. In this case, the measure is funded by resources, granted by the State under the WRAP programme. The measure is granted to an individual beneficiary. The aid granted under the WRAP programme will cover a significant part of investment costs, which will relieve the company from costs it should normally have had to bear. The measure distorts or threatens to distort competition, and could affect trade between Member States, since both newsprint and waste paper are traded inter- nationally (14). In fact, a large part of the UK paper consumption is imported mainly from other Member States (15). It should also be noted that the UK exported 138 000 tonnes of newsprint paper in 2001. It is also clear from the case-law of the Court that when aid granted by the State strengthens the position of an undertaking vis-à-vis other undertakings competing in intra-Community trade, the latter must be regarded as affected by that aid (16). Therefore, the measure qualifies as State aid under Article 87(1) of the EC Treaty.
