CELEX: 31975L0432
Language: en
Date: 1975-07-10 00:00:00
Title: Council Directive of 10 July 1975 on aid to shipbuilding

24. 7. 75                              Official Journal of the European Communities                           No L 192/27
                                                    COUNCIL DIRECTIVE
                                                        of 10 July 1975
                                                     on aid to shipbuilding
                                                         (75/432/EEC)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                        Whereas the objectives of a competitive and
COMMUNITIES;                                                       balanced      shipbuilding industry       require    an
                                                                   appropriate adjustment of production structures so
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the                       that the undertakings in the sector may eventually be
European Economic Community, and in particular                     able to follow general economic developments and
Articles 92, 3 ( d), and 113 thereof;                              meet competition on the world market without the
                                                                   support of intervention by the public authorities and
                                                                   so that the investment efforts of the sector are
Having     regard      to   the       proposal    from    the      compatible with the world balance between supply
Commission;                                                        and demand;
                                                                   Whereas distortions in competition on the world
Having regard to the Opinion of the European                       market have been reduced through a series of
Parliament (*);                                                    understandings concluded by the main shipbuilding
                                                                   countries within the framework of the OECD with
Having regard to the Opinion of the Economic and                   the object of harmonizing export credit conditions
Social Committee (2);                                              for ships ; whereas, within this same organization,
                                                                   the principal shipbuilding countries have concluded
                                                                   a general arrangement on the progressive reduction
Whereas Council Directive No 72/273 /EEC (3) of 20                 of specific aid measures distorting competition in the
July 1972 on aid to shipbuilding, which was                        shipbuilding industry, with a view to their abolition
designed to offset distortions in competition on the               by 1 November 1975 ;
world market, has helped to reduce and to
harmonize direct aids to shipbuilding in the                       Whereas, furthermore, the objective of making the
Community; whereas this Directive, last extended by                shipbuilding industry competitive in a relatively
Directive No 74/59/EEC (4), expired on 30 June                     short time requires consideration of the overall
1975 ;                                                             effects of aids and interventions directly or indirectly
                                                                   affecting competition and trade conditions on the
Whereas the position of shipbuilding in the
                                                                   market for the building, conversion or repair of
                                                                   ships ;
Community has improved since the adoption of
Directive No 72/273 /EEC, due to favourable market
                                                                   Whereas the continued application of aids to
developments and to the rationalization and
                                                                   shipbuilding has a protective effect which was
restructuring efforts of shipyards ; whereas, however,
if undertakings are to be made competitive and a
                                                                   justifiable in the past but is not likely in the long
                                                                   term significantly to improve the world
balance achieved in this sector, these efforts must be
intensified; whereas this is particularly urgent in
                                                                   competitiveness of the Community shipbuilding
                                                                   industry; whereas, however, elmination of such aids
view of the serious difficulties threatening the sector;
                                                                   must take place gradually to enable shipyards to
                                                                   adjust to the new conditions ;
Whereas a sound and competitive shipbuilding
industry is necessary to the Community; whereas it                 Whereas aid to shipbuilding should not, however,
contributes to its economic and social development,                adversely affect trading conditions to an extent
by providing a substantial market for a range of                   contrary to the common interest,
sectors, including those using advanced technology,
and as an employer in a number of Community
regions ; whereas this is also the case with ship
conversion and ship repair;                                        HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE :
                                                                                            Article 1
 (*) OJ No C 76, 3. 7. 1974, p. 41 .
 (2) OJ No C 97, 16. 8. 1974, p. 40.
 (3) OJ No L 169, 27. 7. 1972, p. 28.                              Aid and intervention to assist shipbuilding may be
 (4) OJ No L 38, 11 . 2. 1974, p. 1 .                              considered compatible with the common market,
 ---pagebreak--- No L 192/28                           Official Journal of the European Communities                                  24 . 7. 75
under this Directive, in so far as they satisfy the              The Commission shall regularly draw up an overall
conditions set out in Article 2 ( 1 ) and (2) and                report to serve as the basis for discussion with
Article 3 .                                                      national experts.
                           Article 2
                                                                                            Article 3
1.     Article 1 shall apply to aid and intervention for
the building, in the Community, of the following                 Article 1 shall apply to aid and intervention in the
metal-hulled sea-going vessels :                                 form of credit facilities for export and for all other
                                                                 sales of ships, provided that such facilities satisfy the
— merchant vessels for the carriage of cargo and/or              conditions laid down in the understanding on export
    passengers of not less than 150 gross registered             credit for ships contained in the resolution of the
    tons,                                                        Council of the OECD of 18 July 1974, or in any
                                                                 agreements replacing it.
— fishing vessels of not less than 150 gross
    registered tons,                                             These aids and interventions may apply under the
                                                                 same conditions to the conversion of metal-hulled
— dredgers of not less than 150 gross registered                 sea-going vessels of not less than 5 000 gross
    tons ,                                                       registered tons, on condition that conversion
                                                                 operations entail radical alterations to the cargo
— tugs of not less than 500 hp .                                 plan, the hull or the propulsion system.
2. ( a) Article 1 shall apply to the aid and
          intervention referred to in paragraph 1 until                                     Article 4
          31 December 1975 only, on condition that
          their present level is not increased.                  The Member States shall inform the Commission of
                                                                 their decisions to grant aid to investments in
     ( b) Nevertheless, Article 1 shall apply beyond 31          shipbuilding, conversion or repair yards where the
          December      1975     when    these   aids   and       amount x of such investment is in excess of five
          interventions are granted :                            million units of account. This information shall be
                                                                  provided every year in the form of a table based on
          — in Ireland, provided that such aids and               the specimen in Annex II : on 1 March, in respect of
              interventions are progressively reduced             the decisions taken in the second half of the previous
              and that there is at the same time a                calendar year and on 1 September for those taken in
              rationalization plan,                               the first half of the current calendar year.
          — in Italy, provided that such aids and
              interventions are progressively reduced
              and that there is at the same time put into                                   Article 5
              operation a plan for the rationalization of
              the shipbuilding industry the effect of             Aid and intervention of a conservatory nature
              which would be to make the industry                  intended as a temporary solution for the rescue of a
              properly competitive and able to continue           shipbuilding, ship conversion or ship repair
              without such measures,                              undertaking pending a solution to the problems
                                                                  confronting the undertaking concerned shall be
           — in France, in the form of a price guarantee          notified individually to the Commission, pursuant to
              introduced — under the specific                      Article 93 of the Treaty.
              intervention scheme to assist shipbuilding
              — by the law of 24 May 1951 , provided
              that the terms of this scheme are made
               progressively more restrictive.                                               Article 6
 3.     The Member States shall provide a table, for               The     Member      States   shall    refrain  from      any
 the exclusive use of the Commission, based on the                 intervention measures to promote within their
 specimen given in Annex I, setting out the decisions              national territories the building, conversion and
 on the aid and intervention referred to in paragraph 1            repair of ships to be used for navigation or for use at
 and an estimate of their effects . This information               sea and the manufacture of products intended to
 will be provided on 1 March of each year in respect               form part of such ships, other than those provided
 of the decisions taken during the second half of the              for   in  Articles   2   and    3   or   those  considered
 previous calendar year and on 1 September for those               compatible with the common market under Articles
 taken in the first half of the current calendar year.             92 and 93 of the Treaty.
 ---pagebreak--- 24. 7. 75                                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                                No L 192/29
                            Article 7                                                                           Article 9
The Member States shall inform the Commission of                                  This Directive shall apply until 31 December 1977.
their rules and procedures for implementing the aid
and intervention systems to assist the building,
conversion and repair of ships before such rules and                                                           Article 10
procedures enter into force.
                                                                                  This Directive is addressed to the Member States .
                            Article 8
                                                                                                                    For the Council
The Council, acting by a qualified majority on a                                                                      The President
proposal from the Commission, shall amend this
Directive as and when appropriate.                                                                                    E. COLOMBO
                                                                        ANNEX I
             Information to be furnished by the Member States concerning the aid and intervention referred
                                                                   to in Article 2 (3 )
                    Serial            Type of                    Gross                     Financial effect, as a percentage
                   number              vessel             ( registered tons)                    of the contract price f1 )
             (') Subsidy equivalent shall be calculated by adjusting amounts upwards by 8 °/o . Where payment is by instalments ,
                 the relevant subsidy equivalents are shown in the table relating to the period in which the payments were made .
                                                                       ANNEX II
                                                  Table of investment aid under Article 4
                   Description               Purpose                   Amount               Form               Net subsidy equivalent
                                                                                                                  as a percentage
                  of investment         of investment (')           of investment       of assistance
                                                                                                                 of the investment
             (') Where applicable , indicate whether part of a sectoral or regional development programme .