Christoph Arhold

Counsel White and Case LLP, Berlin

Academic and Professional Career

Christoph Arhold's main practice areas are German and European competition law, including mergers, cartels and - in particular - State aid.  He also has substantial experience in other fields of European Community law, such as the fundamental freedoms of the Common Market and foreign trade law including export control law and anti-dumping.

Christoph Arhold has advised German and international clients in various industries, including glass, chemicals, transport, and financial services.  He also represents the German Government in cases before the highest national administrative courts and the European Court of Justice (ECJ).  He has significant expertise in advising and representing clients in State aid cases before national authorities and courts, the European Commission and the European Community Courts.  He obtained the first ever suspension order in a State aid case before the Community Courts in the landmark TGI case.  In another landmark case, he achieved the first ever judgment of the European Courts confirming the right of access to documents in State aid procedures.
During the current financial crisis, he is particular involved in notifying rescue and restructuring aids to large banks (HSH Nordbank) and airlines (Czech Air) as well as State aid in support of major infrastructure projects (e.g. D1 Motorway project).

He is recognized as one of the leading German State aid law experts in the German directory Juve Handbuch.

Christoph Arhold regularly publishes and speaks on State aid and other EC law topics (see list below), and is also visiting lecturer for EC State aid law at the Europa-Institut of the University of Saarland.

Before joining White & Case, Christoph Arhold worked as an assistant to Prof. Dr. Torsten Stein, University of Saarland (Germany), as an assistant to a Member of the European Parliament and, as part of his legal training, in the cabinet of Prof. Dr. Günter Hirsch, former judge at the ECJ. 

Recent and current State aid References

• D1 Motorway Project: Notification of potential State aid measures connected to a  TREN Slovak motorway project to the European Commission.
• Notification of Rescue and Restructuring State aid to Czech Air.
• Notification of Emergency and Restructuring aid of a major German public bank to the European Commission under the banking and impaired assets communications.
• M5 Motorway. Advise on EC State aid law aspects in connection with the US$350 million financing of the construction and operation of the M5 toll motorway linking Budapest and Szeged and representation of the lead arrangers of a US$270 million refinancing of the project. This project was named 2004 "Europe, Middle East and Africa Infrastructure Deal of the Year" by Project Finance International and "European Transport Refinancing Deal of the Year" by Project Finance Magazine. (Hungary)
• M6 Motorway - advising a bidder consortium on EC State aid law aspects in connection with the Hungarian M6 motorway project.
  Advising on Cartel and Public Procurement law aspects of the Slovak D1 motorway PPP project.
• Advising a solar cell producer on all State aid issues connected with its large investment project in Saxony, Germany.  The project concerned the construction of Saxony’' largest production site for the manufacture of thin-film photovoltaic modules.
• Advising a Northern German town on State aid aspects with respect to the planned privatization of its waste treatment facilities.
• Successful Notification of a large investment project under the Multisectoral framework on regional aid for Europe’s leading distant sales company.
• Notification of State aid in favour of large Czech banks under the Interim Mechanism of Annex 4 to the Accession Treaty 2003.
• Advising a large French electricity company and its subsidiaries with respect to the State aid investigation of the Polish and Hungarian "stranded costs" schemes.
  Advising a large French conglomerate on the scope of the Commission's investigation of Rescue and Restructuring State aids.
• Representing a German service provider in the mobile communication sector on the scope of the Commission’s investigation of Rescue and Restructuring State aids.
• Representing a German conglomerate in a complaint procedure against Community subventions in favour of a combined transport project.
  Representing a German start-up company in receiving funds under national regional aid programs.
• Representing an Italian toll motorway company in a complaint concerning the tender of a Czech toll system project before DG TREN.
• Advising an US oil company with respect to formal investigation procedure C 10/2007 - Tax deductions for intra group interest, Hungary, ongoing.
  Advising a Canadian Bank with respect to investigation procedures concerning the restructuring of Olympic Airways.
• Advising an East German town with respect to the State aid aspects of the planned privatization of its exhibition company.
• Assisting the Romanian Competition Council in drafting State aid decisions with respect to Regional Investment aid.
  Cases T-198/01 R1-3 and T-378/02 R Technische Glaswerke Ilmenau GmbH v Commission, representing an East German glass producer.  First ever suspension order by Community Courts in State aid cases.
• T-80/06, BERt v Commission, representing a Hungarian COGEN electricity producer against the Commission decision to open a formal State aid investigation procedure.
• T-142/06, Zielona Góra v Commission, representing a Polish electricity producer against the Commission decision to open a formal State aid investigation procedure.
• T-24/06 Int. I, Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg v Commission, representing a German TV cable association as intervener in favour of the European Commission.
• T-8/06, FAB Fernsehen aus Berlin v Commission, representing a German TV cable association as intervener in favour of the European Commission.
  Cases T-297/05 and T-41/07, IPK v Commission, IPK v Commission, Representing the European Commission. The applicant seeks annulment of a Commission decision recovering subventions allegedly received by collusion with an EC official.
• Case T-297/05 R, IPK v Commission, application for interim measures by IPK dismissed by order of the CFI President of 2 May 2007.