WRITTEN QUESTION E-0802/00

by Benedetto Della Vedova (TDI) to the Commission

(16 March 2000)

Subject: Compatibility of Italian Law No 454/97 (and the implementing decrees) with Community law on state aids

By means of Law No 454 of 23 December 1997 laying down measures for the restructuring of road haulage and the development of intermodality, the Italian Parliament sought to introduce benefits and incentives for road haulage firms.

The above law stipulates that only road haulage firms based in Italy may benefit from the above measures, thus raising doubts about its compatibility with Community law on competition and state aids.

Those doubts were removed by two decrees issued by the Transport Ministry on 14 October 1998 with a view to implementing Law No 454/97, which extend the benefits to companies based in another EU Member State which hold a Community licence; as a result, the Commission delivered a favourable opinion on the compatibility of Law No 454/97 with Community law (Decision 1999/590/EC(1) of 4 May 1999).

On 7 July 1999 those two decrees were replaced by two others which stipulated that entitlement to the benefits was restricted to undertakings entered in the road hauliers' register in Italy (i.e. those that have at least a branch office in Italy), which would appear to invalidate one of the assumptions on which the Commission's favourable opinion was based.

The favourable opinion itself was made conditional on both Law No 454/97 and the implementing decrees being amended so as to ensure that such aid could be granted solely with a view to offsetting the cost of meeting more stringent emissions and safety standards in other words, only the difference in cost between vehicles meeting normal standards and vehicles meeting more stringent standards (while, at present, the aid is based exclusively on the cost of a replacement vehicle). No such amendment has been made.

Would the Commission not agree that, since the two assumptions on which it based its favourable opinion (extension of the benefits to undertakings based in the EU and amendment of Law No 454/97 and the implementing decrees) are no longer valid, the provisions of Law No 454/97 violate Community legislation on state aids? If it does, how does it intend to prevent this situation from causing irreparable damage to road haulage firms?

(1) OJ L 227, 28.8.1999, p. 12.

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(19 April 2000)

On 4 May 1999, upon completion of the procedure it initiated against Italy in March 1998, the Commission decided to authorise the Italian State aid scheme providing assistance for restructuring the road haulage sector and developing intermodality (Commission Decision No 1999/590/EC of 4 May 1999 on measures for the restructuring of road haulage and the development of intermodality (Law No 454 of 23 December 1997) which Italy intends to implement(1)). The Commission was able to deliver a favourable opinion in view of the amendments the Italian Government proposed to make to the existing texts, namely Law No 454 of 23 December 1997 and the Ministerial Decree of 14 October 1998 on incentives for investments in innovation and training.

The Decision also required Italy to inform the Commission that the amendments in question had been approved and to send it regular reports on the implementation of the authorised measures. To date, the Commission has received no such information and has received no word of the Ministerial Decrees of 7 July 1999 which replaced the Decrees of 14 October 1998.

For want of more detailed information, the Commission in unable to comment on the situation the Honourable Member is referring to. Nonetheless, as part of its follow-up of the procedure it will check that the Italian measures remain fully compatible with the Community rules on State aid.

(1) OJ L 227, 28.8.1999.