Europees recht – TWD Textilwerke Deggendorf

TWD Textilwerke Deggendorf GmbH is a German manufacturer of polyamide and polyester yarn. This company received aid and subsidy from the Federal Republic of Germany under the regional aid programme. The European Commission was not notified about any of these measures. This European institution declared by Decision 86/509 that the given aid to TWD was unlawful. Germany requested TWD to recover the aid. The legal question in this case was if the indirect action of Article 267 TFEU can be used to review an EU measure if there was a possibility to challenge it directly before the CJEU under Article 263 TFEU.

First, TWD should have started an annulment procedure, not preliminary ruling from the CJEU. Also, the requirements of legal certainty indicate that it is not possible for a recipient of aid, to call in question the lawfulness of that decision before the national courts in an action brought against the measures taken by the national authorities for implementing that decision. The specific (onherroepelijkheid) nature of the decision would not be respected if TWD had the possibility to contest the decision.