Action for annulment - State aid - Regulation (EC) No659/1999 - Article 15 - Limitation period - Recovery of aid - Act interrupting the limitation period.

«(Action for annulment – State aid – Regulation (EC) No 659/1999 – Article 15 – Limitation period – Recovery of aid – Act interrupting the limitation period)» Summary of the Judgment 1.. State aid – Administrative procedure – Regulation No 659/1999 – Limitation period for recovery of unlawful aid – Application to aid granted before the regulation entered into force (Council Regulation No 659/1999, Art. 15) 2.. State aid – Recovery of unlawful aid – Application of the limitation period established by Article 15 of Regulation No 659/1999 to aid granted before that regulation entered into force – Starting point of the limitation period – Interruption of the limitation period by a request for information addressed to the Member State concerned (Council Regulation No 659/1999, Art. 15) 3.. State aid – Recovery of unlawful aid – Ten-year limitation period laid down in Article 15 of Regulation No 659/1999 – Application to both the Member State concerned and the beneficiary and third parties – Interruption of the limitation period by a request for information of which the beneficiary was unaware – Not relevant (Art. 88(2) EC; Council Regulation No 659/1999, Art. 15) 4.. State aid – Recovery of unlawful aid – Period preceding Regulation No 659/1999 – No limitation period – Possibility for the beneficiary to rely on the principles of legal certainty and protection of legitimate expectations – None (Art. 88 EC; Council Regulation No 659/1999) JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE (Fifth Chamber, Extended Composition)10 April 2003 (1) ((Action for annulment – State aid – Regulation (EC) No 659/1999 – Article 15 – Limitation period – Recovery of aid – Act interrupting the limitation period)) applicant, intervener, v defendant, THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (Fifth Chamber, Extended Composition), having regard to the written procedure and further to the hearing on 26 September 2002, gives the following On those grounds, THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE (Fifth Chamber, Extended Composition), Cooke García-Valdecasas Lindh Forwood Legal H. Jung J.D. Cooke Registrar President 1 – Language of the case: English.