Judgment_paragraph 41 · Carrefour Hypermarchés SAS and Others v Ministre des Finances et des Comptes publics (C-510/16)

41According to the information provided by the referring court, the actual increase in the overall revenue from the three taxes during the period in question was well in excess of the projections submitted to the Commission, namely EUR 16.5 million per year, and increased, according to the report of the Court of Auditors cited by that court, to an average of EUR 67 million during this period. In so far as such an increase in the budget compared to the budget approved by the Commission is capable of influencing the assessment of the compatibility of the aid in question with the internal market, it constitutes an alteration other than a modification of a purely formal or administrative nature within the meaning of the first sentence of Article 4(1) of Regulation No 794/2004. Such an alteration, save where it remains below the 20% threshold laid down in the second sentence of Article 4(1) of that regulation, is, therefore, an alteration to existing aid, within the meaning of Article 1(c) of Regulation No 659/1999.