Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 28 July 2011 - Territorio
   Histórico de Vizcaya - Diputación Foral de Vizcaya and Others v
   Commission

   (Joined Cases C-471/09 P to C-473/09 P)

   Appeal - State aid - Action for annulment - Commission Decisions on
   State aid schemes implemented by Spain for firms in the provinces of
   Vizcaya, Álava and Guipúzcoa - Tax credit amounting to 45% of
   investments - Legitimate expectations - Principle of proportionality -
   Principles of legal certainty and good administration - Action within a
   reasonable time - Failure to notify

   1.                     Appeals - Grounds - Challenge, repeating the
   pleas in law and arguments raised before the General Court, to the
   latter's interpretation or application of Union law - Admissibility
   (Art. 256(1), second para, TFEU; Statute of the Court of Justice, Art.
   58, first para.) (see paras 55-56, 58)

   2.                     State aid - Recovery of unlawful aid - Aid
   granted in breach of the procedural rules under Article 88 EC -
   Legitimate expectations entertained by the recipients - Protection -
   Conditions and limits - No action taken by the Commission for a
   relatively long time - No legitimate expectations (Arts 87 EC and 88
   EC) (see paras 64-65, 68, 75-77)

   3.                     Procedure - Measures of organisation of
   procedure - Request for production of documents - Duties of the person
   making the request (Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art.
   64(3)(d) and (4)) (see paras 85, 88)

   4.                     Appeals - Grounds - Review by the Court of the
   General Court's refusal to order measures of inquiry - Scope (Rules of
   Procedure of the General Court, Art. 66(1)) (see para. 89)

   5.                     State aid - Examination by the Commission -
   Examination of an aid scheme as a whole - Whether permissible (Arts 87
   EC and 88 EC) (see paras 98-99)

   6.                     State aid - Recovery of unlawful aid -
   Restoration of the previous situation - No breach of principle of
   proportionality (Arts 87 EC and 88 EC) (see paras 100, 104)

   7.                     State aid - Recovery of unlawful aid - Existence
   of an aid scheme - Whether possible for the national authorities to ask
   the Commission to exclude certain individual aid from the duty to
   recover (Arts 87 EC and 88 EC) (see paras 101-102)

   8.                     Procedure - Intervention - Application seeking
   to support the form of order sought by one of the parties - Application
   containing specific grounds of challenge but not altering the framework
   of the action - Admissibility (Statute of the Court of Justice, Art.
   40, fourth para.) (see paras 117-119)

   9.                     State aid - Recovery of unlawful aid - Aid
   granted in breach of the procedural rules under Article 88 EC - No
   action taken by the Commission, for want of enough information
   available to it, for a relatively long time - No breach of the
   principles of legal certainty and of good administration (Arts 87 EC
   and 88 EC; Council Regulation No 659/1999, Art. 14(1)) (see paras
   126-127, 129-130, 134-135)

   Re:

   Appeals brought against the judgment of the Court of First Instance
   (Fifth Chamber, Extended Composition) of 9 September 2009 in Joined
   Cases T-227/01 to T-229/01, T-265/01, T-266/01 and T-270/01 Diputación
   Foral de Álava and Gobierno Vasco and Others v Commission , whereby
   that court dismissed, in Cases T-227/01 and T-265/01, an application
   for annulment of Commission Decision 2002/820/EC of 11 July 2001 on
   State aid schemes implemented by Spain for firms in the province of
   Álava in the form of a tax credit amounting to 45% of investments (OJ
   2002 L 296, p. 1), in Cases T-228/01 and T-266/01, an application for
   annulment of Commission Decision 2003/27/EC of 11 July 2001 on State
   aid schemes implemented by Spain for firms in the province of Vizcaya
   in the form of a tax credit amounting to 45% of investments (OJ 2003
   L 17, p. 1) and, in Cases T-229/01 and T-270/01, an application for
   annulment of Commission Decision 2002/894/EC of 11 July 2001 on State
   aid schemes implemented by Spain for firms in the province of Guipúzcoa
   in the form of a tax credit amounting to 45% of investments (OJ 2002
   L 314, p. 26).

   Operative part

   The Court:

   1.

   Dismisses the main appeals and the cross-appeals;

   2.

   Orders the Territorio Histórico de Vizcaya - Diputación Foral de
   Vizcaya, the Territorio Histórico de Álava - Diputación Foral de Álava,
   the Territorio Histórico de Guipúzcoa - Diputación Foral de Guipúzcoa,
   the Cámara Oficial de Comercio, Industria y Navegación de Vizcaya, the
   Cámara Oficial de Comercio e Industria de Álava and the Cámara Oficial
   de Comercio, Industria y Navegación de Guipúzcoa to pay in equal shares
   the costs relating to the appeals;

   3.

   Orders the Kingdom of Spain to pay its own costs.