Judgment_paragraph 27 · Alro SA v European Commission (T-517/12)

27Secondly, as regards a decision to initiate the formal investigation procedure into State aid, it is clear from the case-law that, where the Commission classifies a measure in the course of implementation as new aid, such a decision entails independent legal effects, particularly in so far as concerns the suspension of that measure (Case C-400/99 Italy v Commission [2001] ECR I-7303, paragraph 62; Joined Cases T-346/99 to T-348/99 Diputación Foral de Álava and Others v Commission [2002] ECR II-4259, paragraph 33, and the judgment of 25 March 2009 in Case T‑332/06 Alcoa Trasformazioni v Commission, not published in the ECR, paragraph 35). That is plainly the case not only where the authorities of the Member State concerned regard a measure in the course of implementation as existing aid, but also where they take the view that the measure covered by the decision to initiate the procedure does not fall within the scope of Article 107(1) TFEU (Diputación Foral de Álava and Others v Commission, paragraph 33, and Alcoa Trasformazioni v Commission, paragraph 35).