On 24 July 2003, the European Court of Justice issued a preliminary ruling confirming earlier case law in Ferring to the effect that financial support that merely represents compensation for public service obligations imposed by EU member states does not constitute state aid. The ECJ also further developed the substantive test for assessing when state funding of public services does go beyond compensation and so must be examined under the EC state aid rules. The new test appears to be far stricter than that under earlier jurisprudence.