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European Court of Justice Upholds German Electricity Pricing Scheme

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

Extract

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A German law known as the Stromeinspeisungsgesetz (Law on feeding electricity from renewable resources into the public grid) requires producers of electricity to purchase (at a fixed, minimum price) and pass along to electricity distributors energy produced from renewable resources in the producer's area of service. (Bundesgesetzblatt (BGBl. [Register of German Federal Law] 1990 I, p. 2633). As required by Article 88 of the Consolidated EC Treaty, the German government notified the Commission of the European Communities of the law's state aid provisions in 1990, and received authorization for those provisions from the Commission. The Commission concluded that the law was consistent with the energy policy aims of the European Communities and that its impact on the industry would be slight.

Type
Research Article
Information
German Law Journal , Volume 2 , Issue 7 , 2001 , E2
Copyright
Copyright © 2001 by German Law Journal GbR 

References

(1) Article 234 (Consolidated EC Treaty) reads:Google Scholar

The Court shall have jurisdiction to give preliminary rulings concerning:Google Scholar

(a) the interpretation of this Treaty;Google Scholar

Where such a question is reaised before any court or tribunal of a member state, that court or tribunal may, if it considers that a decision on the question is necessary to enable it to give judgment, request the Court of Justice to five a ruling thereon.Google Scholar

(2) Aticle 87 (Consolidated EC Treaty) reads:Google Scholar

1. Save as otherwise provided in this Teaty, any aid granted by a Member State or throught State resources in any form whatsoever which distorts or threatens to distort competition by favouring certain undertakings or the production of certain goods shall insofar as it affects trade between Member States, be incompatible with the common market.Google Scholar

2. The following shall be compatible with the common market:Google Scholar

(a) aid having a social character, granted to individual consumes, provided that such aid is granted without discrimination related to the origin of the products concerned;Google Scholar

(b) aid to make good the damaage caused by natural disasters or exceptional occurrences;Google Scholar

(c) aid granted to the economy of certain areas of the Federal Republic of Germany affected by the divisionof Germany, insofar as suchaid is required in order to compensate for the conomic disadvantages caused by that division.Google Scholar

3. The following may be considered to be compatible with the common market:Google Scholar

(a) aid to promote the economic development of areas where the standard of living is abnormally low or where there is serious underemployment;Google Scholar

(b) aid to promote the execution of an important project of common European interest or to remedy a serious disturbance in the encomony of a Member State;Google Scholar

(c) aid to faciliate the development of certain economic activities or of certain economic areas, where such aid does not adversely affect trading conditions to an extenscontraty to the common interests;Google Scholar

(d) aid to promote cultural and heritage conservation where such aid does not affect trading conditions and competition in the Community to an extent that is contrary to the common interests;Google Scholar

(e) such other categories of aid as may be specified by decision of the Council acting by qualified majority on a proposal from the Commission.Google Scholar

(3) The court has previously applied this rule to legislation that imposed fixed-term employment contracts on certain industries. (Viscidio Case [Euroepan Court of Justice C-52/97, 53/97 and 54/97, 7 May 1998, para. 13 <http://europa.eu.int/jurisp/cgibin/>]). The transfer of public capital has also been found to meet the terms of this rule, when the transfer was conducted under normal market circumstances. (European Court of Justice C-261/89, 1991).]).+The+transfer+of+public+capital+has+also+been+found+to+meet+the+terms+of+this+rule,+when+the+transfer+was+conducted+under+normal+market+circumstances.+(European+Court+of+Justice+C-261/89,+1991).>Google Scholar

For a more complete treatment of the principle of state aid, see Thomas Opperman, Europarecht (2.ed), para. 1108–1135 (C.H. Beck 1999).Google Scholar