Actions for annulment against acts of the European Commission in the fields of State aid, antitrust, mergers and anti-dumping constitute a sizeable portion of cases brought before the General Court of the EU. This paper – written by authors of European Court Procedure – A Practical Guide – complements the book by explaining the field-specific case law on admissibility issues in these areas.

First, the paper offers guidance on distinguishing, on the one hand, final acts that are directly challengeable through an action for annulment, and, on the other, the preparatory or intermediary acts that merely pave the way for a final act, meaning that their illegality can only be raised in an action brought against that final act closing the administrative procedure. The issue of separately challengeable procedural acts is examined in detail.

Secondly, the issue of interest to act and standing of natural and legal persons under Article 263(4) TFEU is also explained in the context of acts in the fields of State aid, antitrust, mergers and anti-dumping. When considering bringing a case, it is of utmost importance to identify the scenarios in which a company is directly and individually concerned by acts of the Commission and to properly understand the concept of regulatory acts that do not entail implementing measures. If the conditions of Article 263(4) TFEU – as defined by case law examined in this paper – are not fulfilled, a direct action for annulment will be dismissed as inadmissible by the General Court of the EU. However, prospective litigants may still bring cases before national courts against national measures implementing the EU acts and ask for a preliminary reference on validity to be made to the Court of Justice of the EU. This paper thus also offers guidance on the appropriate judicial avenue to take.