General Court Confirms Compatibility of State Aid for Česká pošta s.p
The General Court (GC) rendered its judgment in case Zásilkovna v Commission (T-784/22), dismissing the action brought by the Czech parcel delivery company Zásilkovna s.r.o. against the Commission’s decision to approve State aid given to the Czech national postal service Česká pošta s.p.
Zásilkovna claimed that Česká pošta used excessive compensation received for its universal service obligation (USO) to subsidise commercial services below market cost and that this amounted to incompatible State aid. The GC rejected all three arguments brought by the applicant; existence of a breach of the obligation to state reasons, a manifest error of assessment of the compatibility of the compensation with the internal market and manifest error of assessment and failure to examine whether there was cross-subsidisation prior to the compensation.
Zásilkovna alleged that the Commission erred by allowing Česká pošta to over-allocate costs to its USO, enabling below-cost pricing of commercial services and by wrongly assessing the need for state intervention. The General Court rejected these claims, finding no manifest errors and upholding the Commission’s view regarding the existence of a market failure in the Czech postal market justifying the provision of a service of general economic interest (SGEI).
It also dismissed challenges to the cost-calculation scenario as justified under Czech law and found the pleas in law concerning alleged past cross-subsidisation inadmissible.
The Court dismissed the action entirely, confirming the compatibility of the aid.
For more information, see the GC’s judgment.