Judgment_paragraph 14 · Carrefour Hypermarchés SAS and Others v Ministre des Finances et des Comptes publics (C-510/16)

14It should be noted at the outset that the Court has consistently held that taxes do not fall within the scope of the provisions of the Treaty relating to State aid unless they constitute the method of financing an aid measure, so that they form an integral part of that measure. Where the method of financing aid by means of a tax forms an integral part of the aid measure, the consequences of a failure by national authorities to comply with the last sentence of Article 108(3) TFEU must also apply to that aspect of the aid, so that the national authorities are required, in principle, to repay taxes levied in breach of EU law (see, to that effect, judgments of 13 January 2005, Streekgewest, C‑174/02, EU:C:2005:10, paragraphs 16, 24 and 25; of 27 October 2005, Distribution Casino France and Others, C‑266/04 to C‑270/04, C‑276/04 and C‑321/04 to C‑325/04, EU:C:2005:657, paragraph 35; of 7 September 2006, Laboratoires Boiron, C‑526/04, EU:C:2006:528, paragraph 43 and the case-law cited, and of 10 November 2016, DTS Distribuidora de Televisión Digital v Commission, C‑449/14 P, EU:C:2016:848, paragraph 65 and the case-law cited).