The presence of State aid mintaszakaszok

The presence of State aid. 1.1. State aid within the meaning of Article 61(1) EEA Agreement

The presence of State aid. State aid within the meaning of Article 61(1) of the EEA Agreement Article 61(1) of the EEA Agreement reads as follows: ‘Save as otherwise provided in this Agreement, any aid granted by EC Member States, EFTA States or through State resources in any form whatsoever which distorts or threatens to distort competition by favouring certain undertakings or the production of certain goods shall, in so far as it affects trade between Contracting Parties, be incompatible with the functioning of this Agreement.’ The criteria will be assessed below, first in relation to the noti- fied amendments to the Harbour Act and second in relation to the 2003 Harbour Act, which was never notified to the Autho- rity. 1.1. The notified amendments made to the Harbour Act in 2007

The presence of State aid. State aid within the meaning of Article 61(1) EEA Article 61(1) of the EEA Agreement reads as follows: ‘Save as otherwise provided in this Agreement, any aid granted by EC Member States, EFTA States or through State resources in any form whatsoever which distorts or threatens to distort competition by favouring certain undertakings or the production of certain goods shall, in so far as it affects trade between Contracting Parties, be incompatible with the functioning of this Agreement.’ It follows from this provision that, for State aid within the meaning of the EEA to be present, the following conditions must be met: – the aid must be granted through State resources, – the aid must favour certain undertakings or the production of certain goods, i.e. the measure must confer an economic advan- tage upon the recipient(s), which must be selective, – the beneficiary must be an undertaking within the meaning of the EEA Agreement, – the aid must be capable of distorting competition and affect trade between contracting parties. The fulfilment of these conditions will be considered further below.

The presence of State aid. State aid within the meaning of Article 61(1) EEA 1.1. The sale of title numbers 1/152, 1/301 and 1/630 to Grunnsteinen AS

The presence of State aid. 1.1. State aid within the meaning of Article 61(1) EEA Agreement 1. the aid is granted by ‘EC Member States, EFTA States or through state resources in any form whatsoever’; 2. the aid ‘distorts or threatens to distort competition’; 3. the aid favours ‘certain undertakings or the production of certain goods’; and 4. the aid ‘affects trade between the Contracting Parties’. The measure under review could take two distinct forms which could amount to State aid: firstly, the sale of the air base at a price below market value (see Section 2.3 below) and secondly, the leasing out of the air base at a price below market value (see Section 2.4 below). 1.2. State aid within the meaning of the State Aid Guidelines — Chapter on State aid elements in sales of land and buildings by public authorities The State Aid Guidelines, Chapter on State aid elements in sales of land and buildings by public authorities, gives further infor- mation on how the Authority interprets and applies the provi- sions of the EEA Agreement governing State aid when it comes to assessing sales of public land and buildings. Section 2.1 desc- ribes a sale through an unconditional bidding procedure, while Section 2.2 describes a sale without an unconditional bidding procedure (by way of an independent expert evaluation). These two procedures allow EFTA States to handle sales of land and buildings in a way that precludes the existence of State aid. The State Aid Guidelines, Chapter on State aid elements in sales of land and buildings by public authorities provides expressly that ‘the guidance concerns only sales of publicly owned land and buil- dings. It does not concern the public acquisition of land and buildings or the letting or leasing of land and buildings by public authorities. Such transactions may also include State aid elements’. (emphasis added) 1.3. The sale of Lista air base

The presence of State aid. 1.2.1. S t a t e r e s o u r c e s In order to qualify as State aid, the measure must be granted by the State or through state resources. The concept of the State does not only refer to the central government but embraces all levels of the state administration (including municipalities) as well as public undertakings. If the municipality sold the land below its market price, it would have foregone income. In such circums­ tances, SDO should have paid more for the land and therefore there is a transfer of resources from the municipality. For these reasons, the Authority considers that if the sale did not take place in accordance with market conditions, state resources within the meaning of Article 61(1) of the EEA Agreement would be involved. 1.2.2. F a v o u r i n g c e r t a i n u n d e r t a k i n g s o r t h e p r o d u c t i o n o f c e r t a i n g o o d s First, the measure must confer on SDO advantages that relieve the undertaking of charges that are normally borne from its budget. If the transaction was carried out under favourable terms, in the sense that SDO would most likely have had to pay a higher price for the property if the sale of land had been conducted according to the market investor principle, the company would have received an advantage within the meaning of the State aid rules. Second, the measure must be selective in that it favours ‘certain undertakings or the production of certain goods’. There is only one possible beneficiary of the measure under assessment, i.e. SDO. The measure is thus selective. 1.2.3. D i s t o r t i o n o f c o m p e t i t i o n a n d e f f e c t o n t r a d e b e t w e e n C o n t r a c t i n g P a r t i e s The aid must threaten to distort competition and be liable to affect trade between the Contracting Parties of the EEA Agreement. A support measure granted by the State would strengthen the position of SDO vis-à-vis other undertakings that are competitors active in the same business areas. Any grant of aid strengthens the position of the beneficiary vis-à-vis its competitors and accordingly distorts competition within the meaning of Article 61(1) of the EEA Agreement. It appears that SDO operates in the market for ski rental and related services, economic activities which are subject to competition from other undertakings. To the extent that the company is active in areas subject to intra-EEA trade, the requirements of Article 61(1) of the EEA Agreement for a measure to constitute State aid appear to be f...

The presence of State aid. State aid within the meaning of Article 61(1) of the EEA Agreement Article 61(1) of the EEA Agreement reads as follows: ‘Save as otherwise provided in this Agreement, any aid granted by EC Member States, EFTA States or through State resources in any form whatsoever which distorts or threatens to distort competition by favouring certain undertakings or the production of certain goods shall, in so far as it affects trade between Contracting Parties, be incompatible with the functioning of this Agreement.’ The individual criteria of that provision will be examined below.

The presence of State aid. Article 61(1) of the EEA Agreement reads as follows: ‘Save as otherwise provided in this Agreement, any aid granted by EC Member States, EFTA States or through State resources in any form whatsoever which distorts or threatens to distort competition by favouring certain undertakings or the production of certain goods shall, in so far as it affects trade between Contracting Parties, be incompatible with the functioning of this Agreement.’ It follows from this provision that, for State aid within the meaning of the EEA Agreement to be present, the following conditions must be met: — the aid must be granted through state resources, — the aid must favour certain undertakings or the production of certain goods, i.e. the measure must confer an economic advantage upon the recipient(s), which must be selective, — the beneficiary must be an undertaking within the meaning of the EEA Agreement, — the aid must be capable of distorting competition and affect trade between contracting parties. The Court of Justice of the European Communities (hereinafter the Court of Justice) has consistently held that the concept of an undertaking covers any entity engaged in an economic activity, regardless of the legal status of the entity or the way in which it is financed (72). It has also consistently held that any activity consisting in offering goods and services on a given market is an economic activity (73). Accordingly, Stáltak (as well as Stálsmiðjan hf. before and later Stálsmiðjan ehf.) is an undertaking in the meaning of Article 61(1) EEA. Whether the remaining conditions are met must be assessed individually with respect to each of the transactions described above. 1.1. Alleged aid measures executed by the Port of Reykjavík

The presence of State aid. State aid within the meaning of Article 61(1) of the EEA Agreement Article 61(1) of the EEA Agreement reads as follows: ‘Save as otherwise provided in this Agreement, any aid granted by EC Member States, EFTA States or through State resources in any form whatsoever which distorts or threatens to distort competition by favouring certain undertakings or the production of certain goods shall, in so far as it affects trade between Contracting Parties, be incompatible with the functioning of this Agreement.’ The Authority will in the following examine whether the condi- tions laid down in Article 61(1) of the EEA Agreement are fulfilled in the present case and whether, consequently, the noti- fied measure constitutes State aid.

The presence of State aid