General — presence of state resources. The term ‘state resources’ covers all aid granted from public sources, including municipalities. It can also include aid granted by public or private bodies designated or established by the state, be it central government or municipalities. It is established case law by the Court of Justice that no distinction is to be drawn between cases where the aid is granted directly by the State and those where it is granted by public or private bodies which the State establishes or designates to administer the aid (74). At the time the alleged State aid was granted, the Port of Reykjavík was governed by the former Harbour Act No 23/1994 and Regulation No 130/1986 on Reykjavík Harbour. The 1994 Harbour Act prescribed that harbours should be owned by municipalities and controlled by harbour boards elected by their respective owners. The Regulation then provided that the Port was owned by the city of Reykjavík and that harbour affairs were managed by the Reykjavík City Council under the supervision of the Ministry of Transport. The Port’s daily operations were in the hands of a Harbour Director and a Harbour Board which was elected by the Reykjavík City Council. Moreover, the Harbour Board’s Chairman was either a member or an alternate member of the City Council. According to the Icelandic authorities, the Harbour Board can be regarded as a part, although rather loosely connected, of the administrative body of the Municipality of Reykjavík at the time the transactions took place (75).
