On 8 November 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) published its final decision on two appeals (C-885/19 P, and C-898/19P) regarding the formal State aid investigation by the European Commission dating back to October 2015 in relation to an Advance Pricing Agreement (“APA” or “tax ruling”) of Fiat Finance & Trade Ltd (“FFT”).
The European Court of Justice annulled the European Commission’s decision setting aside the finding that FTT had received State aid.
This is likely to be an extremely important judgment as it represents the first time the European Court of Justice (Grand Chamber) has addressed the substantive arguments in the recent State aid cases concerning transfer pricing rulings. It remains to be seen the impact this judgment will have in the other ongoing cases and investigations State aid and tax measures.