| Popis: |
Free movement of goods, alongside three other fundamental freedoms, namely free movement of capital, persons and services, is the key feature of the European Union. However, member states, restricting the free movement of goods in the form of national legislative, may threaten the effective operation of internal market, as well as certain restrictive practices exercised by the various private companies. Not only do such business practices harm one of the four fundamental freedoms of the EU, but they can also have a detrimental effect on business efficiency, harm consumers and, are likely to disadvantage small and medium size enterprises. This is why the enforcement and compliance with competition law rules is crucial for the effective functioning of the EU. Therefore, state aid is generally prohibited unless it is justified by reasons of general economic development. To ensure that this prohibition is respected, and exemptions are applied equally across the European Union, the European Commission is in charge of ensuring that State aid complies with EU rules. The subject of state aid and illegal tax rulings issued by various EU member states for the benefitof multi- national companies is the main theme of this paper. In the first part, general rules which govern the state aid are described. Secondly, procedures that Commission undertakes with regard to various types of State aid are assessed. Lastly, the most famous selected cases where the violation of the State aid rules were established, are presented and discussed. |
