Articles

EStAL accepts submissions of manuscripts on a rolling basis. We encourage authors to write on all major areas of State aid law, economics and policy.

Submissions should be sent exclusively through our online manuscript submission system, Scholastica. Submissions by email will not be accepted. Click the button below to be taken to the form.

Authors are encouraged to discuss potential contributions with us prior to submission. Please contact the Executive Editor Nelly Stratieva at stratieva@lexxion.eu.

You can also check our list of Cases for Annotation from the CJEU.

Become an Author for EStAL and view our Call for Papers 
Download our Author Guidelines.

Quality statement and general terms of publication

EStAL accepts submissions of excellent quality only. Responsibility of the factual accuracy of a paper rests entirely with the author. All publications must clearly distinguish themselves from the status quo of discussions among the informed State aid community – in particular through sufficiently broad referencing (as footnotes) – and provide an added value to those discussions. Contributions should not have been published, nor be pending publication elsewhere.

Whereas opinions and case notes may be more factual and focused, articles must rely on pre-existing literature and jurisprudence, even if the positions expressed there are to be contradicted. Likewise, submissions relating to very recent developments require less referencing than submissions relating to more established topics. Publications not living up to this quality standard will be rejected.

Submission of a manuscript does not imply claim for publication. Optionally before submitting a manuscript, the editors may be contacted regarding the suitability of a given topic for EStAL.

The manuscript must also be complete and final in terms of formulation and factual information so that no major corrections – only of type-setting errors or the like – will be necessary after type-setting, when an edited version (the galley proof) will be returned to the author for final checking. Subsequent requests for corrections cannot be processed.

Review Process

All articles submitted to EStAL are subject to its double-blind peer-review process and evaluated for accuracy, quality, novelty and relevance. The peer-review process is an essential and integral part of research and publication, at the same time helping authors improve their work and serving as quality check for the community as a whole.

Articles are first assessed for general fitness to the scope of the journal and overall quality by an Editorial Board member. If deemed to be of sufficient interest it is then sent for external peer-review by a recognized expert in the topic covered by the article.

Articles may be rejected, accepted pending minor or major modifications, or accepted as is. The latter is extremely rare; authors are hereby advised that the vast majority of papers must be adapted to some extent before being accepted for publication on EStAL. All authors, regardless of position, origin or status, are expected to respect the comments and suggestions of reviewers and those of the Editorial Team.

Contributions other than Articles (Case Law Annotations, Opinions, News from the Member States and Book Reviews) may follow a simplified peer-review process, either single-blind or open.

Format and Style

EStAL’s official referencing and style guide is OSCOLA 4^th edition, supplemented by the points in this Guideline.

All contributions must comply with the formatting requirements laid out hereunder. Contributions not respecting these formatting and style requirements will be returned to the author.

Format and length

Articles should not be longer than 8000 words including footnotes. Longer articles may be accepted on a case-by-case basis if more space is justified by the topic.

Case annotations should not be longer than 4000 words including footnotes.

Shorter contributions may take the form of Opinions on current issues of interest. These should include no or only very few footnotes.

News from the Member States should not be longer than 2000 words including footnotes.

Book reviews should be around 1500 words in length, with minimal to no footnote references.

All submissions should be in MS Word format, single column, Times New Roman, font size 12, line spacing 1 ½.

Abstract and keywords

Each article must be preceded by a short abstract (without heading) in italics of five to six sentences, without footnotes (approx. 200 words).

3-5 relevant, specific keywords should be added, separated by semi-colons. Avoid generic terms such as merely ‘State aid’ or ‘EU law’.

Presentation

Title

Every word of the Title should be capitalised except for conjunctions (Headline Capitalisation). The Title’s length should not exceed three lines after typeset (max. 100 characters including spaces).

Subtitles are allowed and should not exceed the 3 lines rule either (max. 100 characters including spaces).

Authors’ details

Author details should be included in a first asterisk footnote (*) inserted after the author’s/authors name.

Example:

Article Title

Christopher Bovis*

…….

* Prof Dr Christopher Bovis FRSA, H K Bevan Chair in Law, Law School, University of Hull; Managing Editor of the European Procurement and Public Private Partnership Law Review (EPPPL). For correspondence: <epppl@lexxion.eu>.

To do so: In the References ribbon tab, click the Footnotes launcher (lower right corner in the Footnotes section). There, place an asterisk into the Custom mark: box, then click Insert, and type your footnote text.

All further footnotes should be numbered sequentially in superscript in the text outside punctuation marks.

Tables and figures

All figures must be sent in separate graphics files (.jpg, .png etc.), in high resolution and in greyscale (publication in colour is not possible).

Tables and figures should not be longer than half a page each. If longer ones are absolutely necessary, they should be treated as annexes and included in separate pages at the end of the article.

Every table and figure should have a title. The relevant sources of the data presented or of the tables or figures themselves should be indicated. Within the text, the position at which a table is to be included should be marked by ‘[TABLE X…]’, the tables and figures being clearly numbered. Every table and figure should be referred to.

Please do not use boxes.

To ease the typesetting process, please keep formatting within tables to a minimum (eg avoid merged cells or the use of vertical text for headings).

Section and Sub-section Headings

The headings of (sub-)sections should be structured as follows:

H1:     I. (Roman numerals in Capital, starting with the Introduction)

H2:     1. (Arabic numerals)

H3:     a. (Minuscule letters)

H4:         i. (Minuscule Roman numerals)

Quotation and referencing

All references should be included in the footnotes: no final bibliographies are allowed. In-text citations of the form Kelsen(1967) should not be used either.

All references must be presented in the official reference style, OSCOLA. For CJEU and European Commission Cases and documents, use preferably the forms given below instead.

Full guide: http://www.law.ox.ac.uk/published/OSCOLA_4th_edn.pdf

Footnotes

Footnotes should be reserved for referencing and short comments only. A footnote may not in any event be longer than 100 words.

Longer comments, even if ancillary or digressive, should be incorporated into the body of the text or omitted.

Use only the automatic footnote function in MS Word. Note that footnote references should be placed outside punctuation marks.

Do not use linked cross-references (clickable links in the footnote, to other footnotes) as these cause technical problems in typesetting.

CJEU judgments

Case reference | short name | [Court collections year] volume and page | [paragraph number]
or
Case reference | short name | [year] ECLI number | [paragraph number]

Case C–280/00 Altmark [2003] ECR I-7747 [88-90].

Case C-579/16 P FIH Holding [2018] ECLI:EU:C:2018:159.

Case E-12/11 Konkurrenten.no AS [2011] EFTA Ct. Rep. 266.

Case short names are in italics. For judgments not yet registered in the Court collections, the date of judgment is to be given and an indication that the judgment is not yet reported (n.y.r.).

Joined Cases T-80/06 and T-182/09 Budapest Erőmű judgment of 13.02.2012, not yet reported [57].

Opinion of Advocates-General

Opinion of AG | AG last name | Date of Opinion | in Case number | Case short name | [year] | Case reference or ECLI | [paragraph/s number].

Opinion of AG Szpunar of 28.11.2017 in Case C-579/16 P FIH Holding [2017] ECLI:EU:C:2017:911 [68].

Opinion of AG Sharpston of 03.03.2009 in Case C-319/07 P 3F [2009] ECR I-05963 [16].

Commission Decisions

European Commission Decision | act number | of | date | concerning/on | SA Case number | act name | (OJ or Institutional Reference) | page number.

European Commission Decision (EU) 2015/658 of 8 October 2014 on the aid measure SA.34947 (2013/C) (ex 2013/N) which the United Kingdom is planning to implement for support to the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station (OJ 2015 L 109) 44.

European Commission Decision 2000/513/EC of 8 September 1999 on aid granted by France to Stardust Marine (OJ 2000 L 206) 6.

Journal Articles

Indicate the year of publication in square brackets if it identifies the volume, in round brackets if there is a separate volume number;

author, | ‘title’ | [year] | journal name or abbreviation | first page of article

author, | ‘title’ | (year) | volume | issue | journal name or abbreviation | first page of article

M Martens and S de Margerie, ‘The Link to the Subject-Matter of the Contract in Green and Social Procurement’ (2013) 8 European Procurement and Public Private Partnership 8.

Where a specific page is being referenced, pinpoint this with a comma after the starting page of the article

author, | ‘title’ | (year) | volume | issue | journal name or abbreviation | first page of article |, pinpoint reference.

M Martens and S de Margerie, ‘The Link to the Subject-Matter of the Contract in Green and Social Procurement’ (2013) 8 European Procurement and Public Private Partnership 8, 14.

Books

author, | title | (additional information, | edition, | publisher | year), | page number

M Schmauch, EU Law on State Aid to Airlines (Lexxion 2012).

Book chapters

author, | ‘title’ | in editor (ed), | book title | (additional information,| publisher | year), pinpointed page.

S Nespor, ‘Global Warming: the Death of Environmentalism?’ in T Ormond, M Führ and R Barth (eds), Environmental Law and Policy at the Turn of the 21st century (Lexxion 2006), 187.

Note that where a specific page is being referenced, this is pinpointed with a comma after the publication information but that p. or pp. are not used.

Cross-referencing

Cross-referencing should follow the following format:

short reference | (n footnote number) | page number or [paragraph number].

Fluck and Wintterle (n 45).

Altmark (n 2) [62].

Only include page or paragraph number if different from the original citation.

‘ibid’ should only refer to immediately preceding references.

Electronic sources

Always indicate the last date an electronic source is known to be reliable. It is recommended to check all urls before submission, and include a note to this effect with the date as the first footnote:

¹ All websites accessed 31 February 2015.

Alternatively, follow each url with the date of most recent access, expressed in the form ‘accessed 1 January 2010’.

Always include ‘http://’ or ‘https://’.

Citations of publications that are available only electronically should end with the web address (or ‘url’) within angled brackets (< >). Avoid urls that are overly long, or use an url shortener.

Do not cite a temporary electronic source.

Abbreviations and Style Points

In the body of the text abbreviations should generally be avoided. Common Latin abbreviations may be used, but note that OSCOLA does not use periods nor italics: eg, ie, etc, et seq, et al…

Abbreviations should be introduced simply between parenthesis after the first use of the term, eg: Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). Do not add quotation marks, boldface, or terms such as ‘hereinafter’.

References to judgment names should be in italics, eg Altmark and PreussenElektra. Note however that it should be ‘the Altmark conditions’!

Style points :

• State aid (not State Aid or state aid)
• ‘%’ instead of ‘per cent’
• ‘$’, ‘€’, ‘£’ instead of ‘Dollar’, ‘Euro’ or ‘EUR’, ‘Pound’ etc.
• ‘Judgment’ instead of ‘Judgement’
• ‘Article’ (not, Arts etc)

Common terms and usage

The word ‘Decision’ should always be capitalised when referring to such legal acts of the European Union; same for ‘Directive’ and ‘Regulation’.

Use ‘Court of Justice’ or ‘CJ’ (when referring to the appellate body) and ‘Court of Justice of the European Union’ or ‘CJEU’ when referring to the Curia as a whole. The terms ‘European Court of Justice’ and ‘ECJ’ are outdated/apocryphal and should not be used.

Avoid variational terms such as ‘the Court in Luxembourg’. Note also that ‘the Court of Luxembourg’ would refer to a national Luxembourgish judicial body.

Do not use gendered pronouns for non-natural persons: ‘the European Union itself’, ‘market operators themselves’ etc. Never ‘himself’, ‘herself’… The form ‘him or herself’ is cumbersome: prefer to use the plural neutral: ‘clients themselves are unaware that…’; ‘victims have a right to their just compensation.’

The preferred title for a legal professional called to the bar or member of an order is Lawyer. Attorney is also accepted. The title ‘Attorney-at-law’ only officially exists in the United States of America, Canada and certain other jurisdictions. Legal professionals not called to the bar in those jurisdictions should avoid it. Their own national titles (Avocat, Rechsanwältin, Advocaat etc…) can also be used. Do not use ‘variants’ such as ‘barrister’ or ‘solicitor’ unless you are officially recognized as one in the United Kingdom.

Submission – All pieces should be submitted in our house style in accordance with the Author Guidelines of the specific journal, available on their respective websites.

Authors guarantee that they have not submitted the (same or similar) manuscript elsewhere (including other publishing houses, online platforms etc) simultaneously, while waiting for the outcome of the review process. Authors who have submitted their manuscript for consideration to a Lexxion journal may publish a pre-peer review version of their work on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN). However, once the manuscript has been published in the journal, the authors have responsibility to remove the draft version from SSRN.

Disclaimer – Under no circumstances Lexxion Publisher can be held liable in respect of any material submitted and published, and cannot be held responsible for its content and accuracy by the contributing author. Nonetheless, we will, if notified and having satisfied ourselves of the bona fides of the notification, remove any content that might constitute a legal violation, such as material submitted in potential breach of copyright.

Copyright and Plagiarism – By submitting material for publication, the author guarantees that he or she is the original copyright holder of the work in question owning the legal rights to use the information. As such, Lexxion Publisher has no legal liability regarding any copyright claims, but will simply remove offending articles as/when we are advised of any breaches.

Review – All articles are subject to peer review in accordance with the Author Guidelines of the respective journal. A submission will be considered for publication in the next two issues after acceptance.  Longer processing may occur due to review processes or other factors determining the content of the issue such as the need to offer thematically balanced issues. The publication of any material submitted will be at the sole discretion of Lexxion Publisher.

Reservation of Rights – We reserve the right to accept, reject or remove any material submitted for publication with no explanation.

Offensive Content – Any material deemed defamatory, racist, or otherwise illegal or offending will in any case not be approved for publication.

Exclusive License for Publication and Copyright Transfer (Standard Publication) – By submitting materials, the author transfers all Copyrights of the work to Lexxion Publisher and grants us an exclusive, perpetual, royalty-free, worldwide license to publish any material the author submits to us in any format, including without limitation print and electronic formats. In particular, the author agrees that we can make it fully or partially available in the journal it was submitted to as well as in any other publications and/or media or social media of Lexxion Publisher, provided that due credit is given to the author.

Republication – Any form of republication by the author requires Lexxion Publisher’s prior approval. Nine months after the first publication, the author may discuss with the executive editor of the respective journal further publications of the published version of his or her contribution. If a contribution is republished, full reference should be made to its first appearance in the respective publication by Lexxion Publisher. If the digital version is republished, it must be guaranteed that the corresponding digital object index (DOI) is clearly stated. Republication as ‘self-archiving’ (such as in a personal or institutional website) are only allowed under the Open Access Publication policy described below.

Acknowledgment – The author acknowledges that any breach of the abovementioned warranties may cause us damage or loss and the author agrees to indemnify us in full and permanently against any third party liabilities, claims, costs, loss or damage we incur as a result of publishing material the author submits to us, including consequential losses.

Archiving – Lexxion Publisher maintains secure electronic backups of all past issues of its journals since 2002. In the event the publication of a journal is discontinued, it shall make all possible efforts to keep contents available to readers online, or by request, in any way it deems appropriate. Lexxion Publisher ceases to be responsible for backups and archives of extant journals which have been acquired by other undertakings, except if otherwise agreed upon with said undertakings.

Fees and Open Access Publication – No fees are applied under the standard publication policy. Lexxion does offer authors the possibility to publish Open Access (OA). Under the OA publication policy: i) the final published article is made freely accessible to the public immediately upon publication, ii) authors retain the rights to republish their work, iii) authors, their institutions or funding bodies are obliged to pay an OA fee. The amount of the OA fee per contribution is equivalent to the campus license subscription fee for the respective journal. Contributions published under the OA policy must still successfully pass peer review in accordance with the journal’s Author Guidelines. If the contribution does not pass peer review, authors do not pay an OA fee. It is also possible for authors to opt for the OA policy at any future point after publication.

The need for clarity on agreed ethical standards for everyone involved in the publishing process (authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher) is a necessary publication prerequisite for all journals published by Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (the publisher).

This statement is meant to be a resource to rely on in case of doubt or dispute.

This Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement is based on COPE’s Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors, which is also the reference text if further clarifications and information are needed.

The preparation for the publication of a journal is the charge of its Editorial Team, usually comprised of the Editorial Board, Managing Editors or Editors-in-Chief and Executive Editors. Other Editors may be appointed as necessary.

Editorial Board members are recognised experts in their fields and include academics, legal professionals, scientists, government and EU officials, and other authorities.

1. General Duties of the Publisher
   • Journals are accountable for the content published, through their reviewing and checking processes. Therefore they also hold the responsibility for deciding which contributions should be published. This choice is made on the basis of the quality and novelty of the material, and of its integrity in order to meet the needs of readers and authors.
   • Lexxion supports equal rights and opportunities; therefore every article submitted is taken into consideration and evaluated for its content, without discrimination on any of the grounds set forth in Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
   • Journals published by Lexxion do not disclose information on their evaluation of an article to any of the parties involved in its preparation for publication. The same applies to unpublished material, unless with the specific consent of the authors.
   • The publisher commits to act promptly in case any published material requires corrections of significant import, retractions, clarifications and apologies, as appropriate to each case. Corrections shall be adopted only if they refer to facts or events prior to the submission of the final manuscript and substantially affect the work. Minor or cosmetic corrections, including typos, updates, revisions etc will not be allowed after publication.
2. General Duties of the Editors
   • The members of the Editorial Teams shall act in a professional, balanced, fair and objective manner in carrying out their duties to the journal, without discrimination on any of the grounds set forth in Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
   • This shall apply to all situations, but especially the treatment of authors and assessment of submissions for publication. These shall be considered solely on the basis of the quality of their content and the ethical standards set herein.
   • The Editorial Teams shall duly follow these ethical guidelines and act diligently in cases of suspected misconduct, adopting reasonable measures and procedures to deal with complaints and conflicts.
   • Editors shall refrain from involvement in any review or situation in which a conflict of interests may arise.
3. General Duties of the Reviewers
   • Reviewers shall follow this PEMS and our other specific guidelines and provide an unbiased, non-personal, and objective review of the contributions submitted to them. The reviews must be a tool for improving the quality of the papers, therefore any criticism by the reviewers must be supported by strong arguments, be as clear and specific as possible and remain respectful at all times.
   • Reviewers must treat any submitted manuscript confidentially, and must not use the content to their advantage, unless otherwise agreed upon in writing with the publisher, who shall consult authors beforehand.
   • When accepting the review of a contribution, reviewers shall commit to following all mutually-agreed-upon deadlines and not unduly delay or postpone the review. If unwilling or unable to finish a review, reviewers shall promptly notify the Editorial Team, and attempt to the best of their abilities to find a replacement.
   • Reviewers must immediately inform the Editorial Team of any actual or potential conflict of interests, including those arising after the initiation of their review. The Editorial Team shall act accordingly based on this information.
4. General Duties of the Authors
   • Authors must present an accurate account of the work performed and provide or reference sufficient material to permit the check or replication of their work. If the work has more than one author, all of them must have significantly contributed to the research; conversely, all significant contributors shall be duly identified. If requested, authors shall clarify to the Editorial Team who was responsible for which part of the work.
   • Authors ensure the originality of their work and the proper citation of, reference or credit to the works of others present in their own, in terms of both specific quotation and general influence and guidance.
   • In accordance with Lexxion’s Terms and Conditions, authors shall not submit a contribution to multiple journals or publishers at the same time, nor shall they submit contributions already published (partially or as a whole), even if in another language.
   • Authors must verify and guarantee compliance with ethical standards in the treatment of participants (human or animal) and provide information about the procedures adopted in their studies. Any relevant financial support, direct involvement in a matter discussed in the work (such as judicial proceedings) or other relevant affiliations shall be clearly stated in the work.
   • In case an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their own published work it is the author’s responsibility to immediately notify the publisher or the journal’s Editorial Team, who shall act promptly as appropriate. Authors shall remain available to make such corrections at the request of the publisher or Editorial Team.
   • Authors shall pledge to follow this PEMS and the Author Guidelines of the respective publication, making sure that their work adheres to them entirely before submission. Contributions that do not do so may be summarily rejected.
   • Authors are obliged to take part in the review process by remaining available for any changes, modifications, improvements etc as may be required by reviewers and Editorial Teams. These shall be considered as mandatory conditions for publication; authors shall strive to adopt them to the widest possible extent. Clear and objective justification shall be given by authors if any request hasn’t been met. Editorial Teams reserve the right to return any insufficiently modified contribution to authors for further work, or to reject its publication.
   • Authors shall undertake to follow all assigned deadlines strictly, without undue or unjustified delays. Any delay must be communicated to the Editorial Team prior to the original deadline; failure to do so may result in the summary rejection of a contribution.
   • Upon the first submission of a manuscript, authors must clearly inform the publisher of any prior commitments or obligations they are under which may affect the licensing of their work, including (but not limited to) obligations to make research freely available. Failure to do so may incur the sole liability of the author.
5. Publication Ethics
   • Under no circumstance shall Lexxion publish any work where research misconduct (including but not limited to plagiarism) has knowingly occurred, nor encourage or knowingly allow such misconduct to take place. It shall take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of such works.
   • In the event such misconduct or allegations thereof are brought to the attention of the publisher or Editorial Team, by any person whatsoever, they shall deal with such information as appropriate to each case. The identity of the source shall be protected unless this is explicitly waivered by the same.
   • The case shall be treated discretely and confidentially as much as possible or required by the situation, and no information or allegation shall be made public until the end of the inquiry, and only if so required.
   • All persons involved or alleged to be involved shall be given ample opportunity to clarify the matter.
   • The Editorial Teams and the publisher shall strive to seek the most accurate information possible to guide any decision.
   • Without prejudice to other actions, the publisher shall promptly correct, retract, remove or otherwise remedy any work it published in which misconduct has occurred.
   • The publisher reserves the right to seek judicial remedies, inform or alert professional associations, ethics committees, funding bodies, employers etc, or to take any other action it deems appropriate according to the severity of the misconduct.
6. Peer-review
   All articles submitted to a Lexxion journal are peer-reviewed. Review processes vary per journal and are described in their respective Author Guidelines. The choice and assignment of reviewers is at the sole discretion of the Editorial Team; details thereof shall not be discussed or made public, and authors may not make any requests in this regard.

We invite expert authors to submit annotations on major State aid cases from the CJEU. Only authors who contact us in advance will be reserved a case. Send an email to the Executive Editor Nelly Stratieva at stratieva@lexxion.eu.

After a case has been agreed upon and the annotation is ready for review, submission of the manuscript should also be made exclusively through Scholastica (not by email).

We are currently seeking notes on the following judgments:

This list is updated frequently. Feel free to propose annotations on other cases of relevance as well.

National Cases and SA Decisions

The editorial team of EStAL welcomes case note submission on the following judgments:

• Order of 20 January 2022, C‑594/19 P – Deutsche Lufthansa v Commission
• Order of 27 January 2022, C‑347/20 – SIA ‘Zinātnes parks’ v Finanšu ministrija
• Order of 27 January 2022, C‑179/20 – Fondul Proprietatea v Guvernul României and others
• Order of 24 March 2022, C‑656/20 P – Hermann Albers v Commission

See further Cases in the full Call for Case Notes !

EStAL also accepts annotations on relevant cases from national jurisdictions, and Commission Decisions on State aid measures.

Suitable national cases are those that, for example: may have a trans-national effect(esp. EU level), offer a novel or unique interpretation or application of EU rules, show a shift in jurisprudence in the particular court or country, deal with a special/rare set of circumstances etc.

Commission Decisions of interest should also present a remarkable approach by the EC, adoption of a new policy or shift from a previous one, the application of certain methods, or where the facts or beneficiaries are of particular note etc.

Contact us to discuss any of these possibilities!