2006/417/EC: Commission Decision of  20 April 2004  closing the procedure initiated against Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region, in respect of the measures provided for in Draft Law No 106/1/A —  Aid for the establishment of infrastructure and services in the goods transport sector, for the restructuring of road haulage and the development of combined transport (notified under document number C(2004) 1376)   (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2004-04-20
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy, State aid, carriage of goods, combined transport, control of State aid, road transport

17.6.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 165/17

II

(Acts whose publication is not obligatory)

COMMISSION

COMMISSION DECISION

of 20 April 2004

closing the procedure initiated against Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region, in respect of the measures
provided for in Draft Law No 106/1/A — ‘Aid for the establishment of infrastructure and services
in the goods transport sector, for the restructuring of road haulage and the development of
combined transport’

(notified under document number C(2004) 1376)

(Only the Italian version is authentic)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2006/417/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

(3)

Having regard to the Treaty
establishing the European
Community, and in particular the first subparagraph of Article
88(2) thereof,

Having regard to the Agreement on the European Economic
Area, and in particular Article 62(1)(a) thereof,

Having invited the parties concerned to submit their comments
in accordance with the abovementioned provisions (1),

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

1. PROCEDURE

By letter of 5 February 2001, which was registered at the
the Italian
Secretariat-General on 9 February 2001,
authorities, acting in accordance with Article 88(3) of
the EC Treaty, notified the Commission of a draft
regional Law concerning the development of combined
transport. The notification was registered by the Secre-
tariat-General of the European Commission under No N
134/01.

the Commission
As the notification was incomplete,
requested additional information with letter D(01) 5496
of 5 April 2001. A reply to this letter was received on
20 June 2001 and registered as DG TREN A/61295.

(1) OJ C 311, 20.12.2003, p. 18.

(4)

(5)

(6)

the Italian authorities a letter
The Commission sent
information on 27 August 2001.
requesting further
The Italian authorities asked for an extension of
the
deadline to reply to this request by letter dated 9
registered as DG TREN
October 2001, which was
A/67862. The
the
agreed to by
Commission Services by letter dated 9 November
2001. A meeting was held between representatives of
the Commission and representatives of the Italian autho-
rities on 19 December 2001. The reply to the second
request for information was received by letter dated 24
July 2002, which was registered as DG TREN A/64121.

extension was

The Commission sent
the Italian authorities a new
request for information on 7 October 2002. The reply
was
received by letter dated 21 November 2002
(reference No SG(2002) A/11582). A further meeting
was held with representatives of the Italian authorities
on 18 December 2002.

The Commission requested further clarifications by letter
dated 22 January 2003. The reply was sent by letter
dated 25 March 2003 (reference No DG TREN
A/16616).

A final letter was sent by the Commission on 27 May
2003. The reply to this request was received by letter
dated 4 July 2003 (reference No SG A/6389). Final cla-
rifications were received by letter dated 17 July 2003
(reference No SG A/6942).

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Official Journal of the European Union

17.6.2006

(7)

The Commission decision to initiate the procedure on 11
November 2003 was published in the Official Journal of
the European Union (2). Interested parties were invited by
the Commission to submit comments.

services between the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region and
central and eastern europe. The Commission considered
that, for the scheme to be viable in the long term, the
Italian authorities had to ensure that it had the support
of the authorities of the States concerned.

(8)

Italy submitted its comments by letter dated 27 January
2004, which was registered on 28 January 2004.

(13) While the beneficiary was required to charge for the use
of such new services in a manner commensurate with the
intensity of the aid received, this did not seem sufficient
to guarantee the future viability of these services.

(9)

The Commission did not receive comments from any
other interested parties.

(10)

(11)

2. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE AID MEASURE

2.1. Type of aid

The aid measure in respect of which the procedure was
initiated concerned start-up aid for the development of
new rail and maritime services. The beneficiaries of the
aid measure provided for in the draft regional Law were
(public or private) entities operating in the cargo-
handling sector, for a period not exceeding three years
for the establishment of new rail cargo services with a
in commercial ports or
modal
multimodal terminals in the Region and for the estab-
lishment of new maritime cabotage services departing
from or heading to commercial ports in the Friuli-
Venizia Giulia Region (Article 8 of draft Regional Law
106/1/A).

interchange point

2.2. Grounds for initiating the procedure

in Article 88(2) of

The Commission decision to initiate the procedure
provided for
the Treaty and to
request clarification from the Italian authorities arose
from an initial examination of the notified scheme. In
particular, concerns were expressed as to whether the
implementing
the
measures were both necessary and strictly proportionate.

arrangements

guaranteed

that

The Commission had doubts in particular regarding the
issues set out in points 12 to 17.

(14)

(defined as

Proportionality: The planned intensity of 30 % of the real
costs
the difference between the costs
incurred and the revenue received by the beneficiary in
providing the service in question) would not have guar-
anteed compliance with the usual (3) maximum aid
ceiling of 30 % of the eligible costs.

(15) No undue distortion of competition: The aid measure should
not result in the diversion of traffic flows between neigh-
thereby
bouring ports or existing intermodal services,
attracting traffic already transported intermodally.

(16)

The draft Law did not include mechanisms to guarantee
that the level of distortion of competition produced by
the measure would be acceptable.

(17)

The Commission considered that publication in the
Region’s Official Gazette and a summary notice in at
least two daily papers, including one with a nationwide
circulation, were insufficient means of guaranteeing
transparency and equality of treatment for operators.

3. COMMENTS FROM ITALY

By letter dated 27 January 2004, the Italian authorities
stated, through the Italian Permanent Representation, that
they had decided to withdraw the notified measure
contained in Article 8 of draft Law No 106/1/A.

4. CONCLUSIONS

In view of the withdrawal of the aid measure,

(12)

Viability of the aid scheme: Apart from national services,
the measure was intended to encourage the creation of

(2) See footnote 1.

(3) Maximum aid intensity provided for in COM(2002) 54 final of 4
February 2002 (Marco Polo proposal) — OJ C 126 E, 28.5.2002,
p. 354; aid C 65/2000 — France ‘Start-up aid for short-sea shipping
services’ (OJ C 37, 3.2.2001, p. 16).

17.6.2006

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Official Journal of the European Union

L 165/19

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

The Commission hereby closes the procedure initiated on 11 November 2003.

Article 1

This Decision is addressed to the Italian Republic.

Article 2

Done at Brussels, 20 April 2004.

For the Commission

Loyola DE PALACIO
Vice-President