CELEX: 31962D0202P1234
Language: en
Date: 1962-02-16 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision authorizing Special Tariff Nos 208 and 219 of the Italian State Railways

8                                  Official Journal of the European Communities
 1234/62                  OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES                                        17.5.62
                                             COMMISSION DECISION ,
                      authorizing Special Tariff Nos 208 and 219 of the Italian State Railways
                                          (Only the Italian text is authentic)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN                                 nearly 25-5 % of the total Italian production of fire­
ECONOMIC COMMUNITY,                                            wood is provided by the southern Italian forestry
                                                               industry, and chiefly by that of Calabria, which
Having regard to the Treaty ^establishing the Euro­            figures among the economically least-developed re­
pean Economic Community, and in particular Article             gions of Italy; whereas the consumption centres lie
80 thereof;
                                                               mainly in the north of the country; whereas in conse­
                                                               quence the average distance carried for products
Having regard to the Protocol on Italy annexed to              covered by this tariff exceeds 900 km; whereas as
that Treaty;                                                   compared with the general tariff, this tariff gives
                                                               reductions varying between 2-5 % and 18 % accord­
Having regard to Tariff Nos 208 and 219 of the Ita­            ing to the distance carried and to the weight of the
lian Railways (FS) in their current versions, as laid          consignment;
down in Decreto di legge No 9 of 25 January 1940,
promulgated as Law No 674 of 13 May 1940, con­                 Whereas the volume of goods carried by the FS
cerning powers in respect of the introduction, amend­          under these tariffs in the financial year 1960/61
ment and discontinuance of goods rates on the FS,              amounted to 45 635 metric tons and 11-5 million
and in subsequent decrees enacted under that Law;              metric tons/km in respect of Tariff No 208, and
                                                               39 967 metric tons and 36-9 million metric tons/km
Having regard to the views expressed by the Italian            in respect of Tariff No 219 ;
Government in the course of the consultations held
by the Commission in Brussels on 13 November 1961              Whereas the FS receive compensation out of State
in accordance with Article 80 (2 ) ;
                                                               funds equal to a substantial proportion of the loss
                                                               in revenue arising from the operation of the said
                                                               Tariffs;
                            I
                                                                                         II
Whereas Special Tariff No 208 of the Italian State
Railways (FS) applies to the carriage of compressed            Whereas, without prejudice to the applicability to Ta­
hay and straw from all stations on or the south of the         riff Nos 208 and 219 of Article 80, the Italian Gov­
Italian Railways' Rome-Pescara line or in Sardinia             ernment has submitted in accordance with that Ar­
to all stations within a distance of not more than 500         ticle - in case the Commission should consider it to
km; whereas it operates to the advantage of producers          be applicable - an application for authorization to
and users of these products within the region to               retain in operation FS Special Tariff Nos 208 and
which its scope is confined; whereas the purpose of            219 ;
the tariff is to encourage the transport of hay and
straw from southern Italy, which produces a surplus            Whereas Tariff Nos 208 and 219 apply to the car­
of these products, to central Italy, where production          riage of goods within the Community, which includes
does not meet local needs; whereas, as compared                a Member State's domestic traffic; whereas these Ta­
with the general tariff, it gives reductions of either         riffs must be regarded as State-imposed measures
9-5 % or 16 % according to the weight of the load;             within the meaning of Article 80 ( 1 ), since they are
                                                               laid down by national laws and regulations ; whereas
Whereas FS Special Tariff No 219 applies to the                the tariffs constitute support for the agricultural in­
carriage of firewood from all stations on or to the            dustry in southern Italy corresponding to the objec­
south of the Italian Railways' Rome-Pescara line or            tively measurable difference between rates under the
in Sardinia to all stations situated over certain mini­        normal tariffs and those under Special Tariff Nos
mum distances away; whereas 'it operates to the ad­            208 and 219 ; whereas this support is given to speci­
vantage of the forestry industry in southern Italy and         fic industries, namely agricultural undertakings situ­
of undertakings producing firewood there; whereas              ated on or to the south of the Rome-Pescara line or
 ---pagebreak---                                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                      9
in the Italian islands; whereas, bearing in mind the                                        IV
object of Article 80, agriculture must be regarded as          Whereas in examining Tariff Nos 208 and 219, as re­
being an industry within the meaning of paragraph 1            quired by Article 80 (2) , the Commission must take
of that Article; whereas in consequence Tariff Nos             account both of the considerations expressly set out
208 and 219 come within the scope of Article 80 ( 1 ) ;        in that provision, and also of the general objectives
Whereas it is not even claimed that Tariff Nos 208
                                                               stated in Articles 2 and 3 of the Treaty, as interpreted
                                                               in the light of the Preamble thereto, and also, in this
and 219 are tariffs fixed to meet competition within           instance, of the provisions of the Protocol on Italy;
the meaning of Article 80 (3) ;                                whereas it is clear from these texts that harmonious
                                                               economic development in the Community as a whole
Whereas it is therefore for the Commission to decide,
                                                               entails a reduction both in the disparities between its
in accordance with Article 80 (2) , on the application         various regions and in the relative backwardness of
submitted by the Italian Government for authoriza­             the less favoured regions, of which southern Italy is
tion, in so far as this may be required, to retain in          one, and that it is for the Community's institutions
operation Tariff Nos 208 and 219;                              to employ the means and procedures at its disposal
                                                               under the Treaty to facilitate the Italian Govern­
                            III
                                                               ment's implementation of its ten-year plan for econo­
Whereas the Italian Government puts forward the                mic expansion directed inter alia at that region;
following arguments in support of its application:             whereas the Commission should have these consider­
                                                               ations in mind when examining transport rates and
FS Tariffs Nos 208 and 219 form part of the 'Green             conditions to which Article 80 ( 1 ) applies, since pa­
Plan' drawn up by the Italian Government in order              ragraph 2 of that Article requires it to take account
to develop agriculture in southern Italy ; the aim of          in particular of the requirements of an appropriate
the Plan, which is directed towards a progressive im­          regional economic policy and of the needs of under­
provement in production and conditions of sale in              developed areas;
this economic sector, is in accordance with the
Treaty, as are all the economic and social conse­              Whereas investigation shows that the area to which
quences arising from the Plan;                                 Tariff Nos 208 and 219 apply falls within the under­
                                                               developed areas of southern Italy covered by the
The two tariffs are necessary to enable the carriage           Cassa del Mezzogiorno programme for economic ex­
to and distribution in northern and central Italy of           pansion, development of employment opportunities
hay, straw and firewood originating in the under­              and improvement of living standards r whereas the
developed areas of southern Italy; these products              importance of agricultural production to the imple­
have a low initial value and transport costs bear              mentation of this programme is not disputed; where- •
heavily on them; without this support their sales              as, bearing in mind the geographically remote situa­
would fall drastically, to the detriment of the pro­           tion of southern Italy, it is reasonable that the aid
ducer areas; restriction or total removal of transport         necessary to that region should cover the carriage of
capacity for these products, through discontinuance            goods and hence Tariff Nos 208 and 219 appear to
of the two tariffs, would inevitably lead to a con­             be a form of support appropriate to the objectives in
siderable disturbance of the agricultural and forestry          view;
economy of southern Italy.
                                                                Whereas Tariff Nos 208 and 219 as now in force
These tariffs, together with other special tariffs and a        have not been shown to affect competition as regards
series of measures in widely varying spheres, contri­           agricultural produce in a manner not justified by the
bute to the development of the underdeveloped re­               needs of the underdeveloped area in question;
gions of Italy; the aim is, through modernization of
agriculture in these areas, together with progressive           Whereas there is no evidence from the examination
industrialization, to raise the standard of living to           carried out in accordance with Article 80 (2) that
the average obtaining in Western Europe ; this is not           Special Tariff Nos 208 and 219 have any deleterious
merely an economic task but also a social task of the           effects on competition between the different modes
utmost importance, the political aspects of which               of transport within the meaning of that provision;
 should not be overlooked; to abolish or amend these
 tariffs is not at present possible, since they are indis­      Whereas for the foregoing reasons the continued ap­
 solubly bound up with the other measures in a care­            plication of Tariff Nos 208 and 219 may be author­
fully thought-out system of mutually complementary              ized;
and interacting aids ; the attainment of these objec­
tives would be jeopardized if the Italian Govern­               Whereas, while granting authorization for an inde­
 ment were prevented from employing all means hith­             terminate period , the Commission retains the power
 erto at its disposal to resolve the problem in a field         to amend or revoke such authorization if it finds, of
 where the success of such means can be ensured only            its own accord or at the request of a Member State,
 by their coordinated and simultaneous application;             that , authorization is no longer justified,
 ---pagebreak--- 10                                Official Journal of the European Communities
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION :                                   quest of a Member State, finds that is is no longer
                                                              justified.
                       Article 1
                                                                                    Article 3
Application of the Italian State Railways Special
Tariff Nos 208 and 219, as in force on 13 November         -, This Decision is addressed to the Republic of Italy.
1961 , is hereby authorized with effect from 1 January
1962 .                                                        Done at Brussels, 16 February 1962.
                       Article 2                                              For the Commission
This Decision may be amended or repealed if the                                  The President
Commission, acting of its own accord or at the re­                               W. HALLSTEIN