European Court rejects JCDecaux’s appeal against order to repay state aid

The Commission decided in June 2019 that JCDecaux had received unlawful state aid in the period 2001-2010. Following a complaint from competitor Clear Channel, the Commission found that JCDecaux had also had agreements with the City of Brussels in the 2000s in which it agreed to make bus shelters and other street furniture available and to use some of it for advertising purposes. The company gave the City of Brussels a number of benefits in kind, but did not have to pay rent or other compensation.

That contract was terminated in 1995 and replaced in 1999 by a new agreement, in which the street furniture remained the property of the city and JCDecaux paid a fee for the advertising. However, a number of bus shelters still appeared to fall under the old arrangement.

The Commission declared it illegal and Belgium (de facto the city of Brussels) was ordered to recover the state aid. It concerns an amount of approximately 2.5 million euros. The European Court has now definitively confirmed that decision.