Newsletter-21

157 COMPETITION LAW Additionally, it indicated that a comprehensive state aid inventory is yet to be set up, and an action plan for aligning all state aid schemes with the acquis is yet to be adopted 4 . This newsletter will assess the state aid in general and the relevant Turkish legislation. Features of the State Aid Measures Law No. 6015 defines the state aid as “ any aid providing a fi- nancial benefit to its beneficiary granted by the State or through State resources in any form whatsoever which distorts or threatens to dis- tort competition by favoring certain undertakings or the production of certain goods, in so far as it affects trade between European Union and Turkey .” The definition is parallel with Art. 107 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (“TFEU”). Accordingly, the measure needs to have five features to be state aid: the measure should be granted by the State or through State resources; the measure should grant an advantage to the beneficiary or beneficiaries, the advantage should be on a selective basis, the measure should distort or threaten to distort competition, and the measure should be likely to affect trade between the European Union and Turkey (affect trade between Mem- ber States, according to the European Union legislation). The aid granted by the State or through State resources does not need to be monetary aid; the Commission interprets this concept broadly. The concept of state aid not only includes the aid actively granted by the State or through State resources, but also aid through release of the undertakings from a financial obligation that they nor- mally should have born, and thereby, decreasing the State revenues 5 . State aid may take a variety of forms, such as grants, incentive pay- ments, low-interest loans, providing goods in preferential prices, and providing sureties for loans, etc. Granting tax relief or other tax related benefits also fall within the scope of state aid. The Commission ruled in its recent Fiat and Starbucks decisions that tax rulings violating the arm’s length principle in relation to the validation of transfer pricing arrangements, and thus, reducing the tax burden of company groups ments/2015/20151110_report_turkey.pdf. 4 Turkey 2015 Report, p. 41. 5 Limburg v. High Authority, Case C-30/59, [1961] E.C.R. 1.