No C 265/2 Official Journal of the European Communities 11. 10.91 
STATE AID 
C 7/91 (ex N 506/90) 
Italy 
(91/C 265/02) 
(Articles 92 to 94 of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community) 
Commission notice pursuant to Article 93 (2) of the EEC Treaty to other Member States and 
interested parties concerning aid which Italy plans to grant to shipbuilding 
In the letter reproduced below, the Commission 
informed the Italian Government of its decision to 
terminate the procedure initiated on 18 March 1991 ('). 
'Re: Aid to shipbuilding 
By letter dated 13 September 1990 the Italian 
Government notified the Commission of a plan to grant 
supplementary aid for a vessel ordered in 1985 and built 
by Fincantieri at its Monfalcone yard. As the 
Commission considered that the aid could no longer be 
assessed under the Fifth Directive on aid to shipbuilding, 
it informed you by letter of 18 March 1991 that it had 
initiated the Article 93 (2) procedure in respect of the 
aid. 
Further details were sent to the Commission by letter 
dated 25 March 1991, at bilateral meetings held on 15 
May and 10 June 1991, and by fax on 9 July 1991. 
Althoug the Italian Government contested, from a 
strictly legal standpoint, the Commission's view that the 
aid was not covered by the Fifth Directive, it was never­
theless decided that the notified aid and the aid for 20 
other vessels could be examined under the Sixth 
Directive, and in particular Article 5 (1) thereof. 
The decision was based on further details supplied by the 
Italian Government and showing that, although the aid 
had not yet been authorized by the Commission, it had 
been anticipated by Fincantieri and entered in its 
accounts as aid to be received. It is therefore reasonable 
to assess the amounts in relation to additional losses 
incurred in the period 1987 to 1990, when the vessels in 
question were delivered. 
(») OJ No C 123, 9. 5. 1991. As all the aid, including the aid to cover losses granted 
by the Italian Government to the merchant shipbuilding 
sector and approved by the Commission, totalled 22,2, 
25,5 and 24,5 °/o in 1987, 1988 and 1989 respectively and 
as the ceiling fixed by the Commission was 28 % in 1987 
and 1988 and 26 % in 1989, it seems that there was a 
margin to cover the losses without the various ceilings 
being exceeded. 
In financial terms, for the years in which the vessels were 
delivered, the additional losses total Lit 39,9 billion, Lit 
15,9 billion and Lit 13,6 billion, representing 3,2, 1 and 
0,9% in 1987, 1988 and 1989 respectively. 
These additional losses are thus within the limits auth­
orized by the Commission and may be considered 
compatible with the common market. 
The Italian Government has agreed to notify losses, 
these totalled Lit 51,8 billion, on the contracts under 
which deliveries were made in 1990, along with the 
losses due shortly to be notified once the final accounts 
have been produced. They will therefore be included in 
the overall assessment for that year on the basis of 
Article 5 of the Sixth Directive and the ceiling for 1990, 
which was 20 °/o. 
I can therefore inform you that the Commission has 
decided to terminate the Article 93 (2) procedure 
initiated in respect of the oil tanker Calitea and to raise 
no objections to the aid for additional losses on the other 
16 vessels delivered between 1987 and 1989.'