MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES AND SELECTIVITY CRITERION IN STATE AID CASES

Decisions of the European Union Commission regarding taxation agreements between competent tax authorities and multinational enterprises have been widely discussed. Within this discussion, implementation of the selectivity criterion and specifically the arm’s length principle, which is accepted by the Commission as a necessity in the application of state aid rules, has received a lot of criticism. This study will focus on the assessments on selectivity criterion in the decisions regarding multinational enterprises. Within this perspective, the first section will elaborate on the application of the selectivity criterion in cases concerning taxation practices of multinational enterprises. The second section will question the application of presumption of selectivity in case of advanced pricing agreements. The third section will discuss whether multinational enterprises and standalones are in a comparable legal and factual situation. The fourth section will question the legal basis put forward by the Commission to implement arm’s length principle.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

Arm’s length principle, Multinational enterprises, , State aid, Selectivity, Advanced pricing agreements

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