DMT Case : Concept of State Aid

United Kingdom
13/07/1999
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The ECJ has ruled that more lenient payment facilities for social security contributions granted in a discretionary manner by an agency responsible for collecting such contributions constitutes state aid if, taking into account the size of the economic advantage conferred, the recipient undertaking would manifestly have been unable to obtain comparable facilities from a private creditor in the same situation.

Furthermore, it is for the national court to determine whether the payment facilities granted by the public body are manifestly more generous than those which a private creditor would have granted. To that end, the public body concerned must be compared with a hypothetical private creditor which is in the same position vis-à-vis his debtor as the public body seeking to recover the sums owed. (DMT Case C-256/97, judgment of 29.06.99, opinion of AG on 24.09.98)

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