Press Release: State aid: Commission concludes BT and Kingston have received no aid through UK property tax

The European Commission has concluded that the way in which UK property tax on telecommunications infrastructure is applied to BT and Kingston Communications in England and Wales does not constitute an aid under EC Treaty state aid rules. The Commission has therefore closed its formal investigation under EC Treaty state aid rules. In particular, the Commission’s investigation concluded that the so-called “business rates” tax is levied on telecommunications infrastructure belonging to BT and Kingston in a way that does not give them a lower tax burden than that of their competitors and so does not result in state aid in favour of BT and Kingston.