State Aid

State Aid rules were put in place to protect the free market by ensuring that state resources do not distort competition or give recipients an unfair advantage. State Aid is considered to be any advantage given by or through a state to an undertaking in its domestic economy where such an aid may benefit particular industrial sectors or individual undertakings and affect trade in the European Union.

Brick Court Chambers has wide expertise - derived from its Competition Law, EU Law and economics strengths - of relevance to State Aid, and a handful of specialists in this highly technical area. Our work in this field is complemented by excellent links with expert economists.

Our clients in this field include private entities, governments (both the UK and other Member States) and the European Commission. Members of Chambers have litigated constitutional issues concerning regional selectivity and have experience in numerous commercial fields, the most recent examples being the airline, betting, energy, telecoms, transport infrastructure and health insurance sectors.

Recent examples of cases and advisory work include:

• BUPA v Commission (CFI)
• UK Coal (RJB Mining) v Commission and Germany (CFI)
• Portugal v Commission: Azores (ECJ)
• UK v Commission: Gibraltar Tax (CFI)
• BT3G and Others v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Court of Appeal)