CELEX: 31976D0446
Language: en
Date: 1976-05-05 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision of 5 May 1976 authorizing the Italian Republic to take certain protective measures under Article 108 (3) of the Treaty

No L 120 /30                      Official Journal of the European Communities                                 7 . 5 . 76
                                             COMMISSION DECISION
                                                    of 5 May 1976
              authorizing the Italian Republic to take certain protective measures under
                                             Article 108 (3) of the Treaty
                                           (Only the Italian text is authentic)
                                                     (76/446/ EEC)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN                                  bearing cash deposit with the Bank of Italy whenever
COMMUNITIES,                                                    foreign exchange is purchased and whenever lira are
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European          deposited on foreign accounts ; the deposit shall not
                                                                exceed 50 % of the amount involved in the transac­
 Economic Community, and in particular Article 108              tion .
(3) thereof,
Having regard to the Commission Decision of 8 May                                        Article 2
 1974, and in particular Article 7 (2) thereof,
                                                                The Italian Republic shall ensure that the Bank of
Whereas the balance of payments situation of the                Italy releases the deposit, without delay or formality,
Italian Republic, which had led to the adoption , under         three months from the date of its lodging.
Article 108 (3), of the Decision cited above, is now —
after a relative improvement which had enabled the                                       Article 3
protective measures to be confined to investments
made abroad — suddenly deteriorating once again,                Should any difficulties arise in implementing the
the present movement being severely aggravated by               measures hereby authorized, the Italian Republic and
speculation ;                                                   the Commission shall examine them together.
Whereas this new deterioration is entailing a rapid                                      Article 4
and excessive depreciation of the lira which represents
a serious threat to the working of the common market            The Commission shall verify that the provisions of
and which therefore calls for emergency action ;                this Decision are observed .
Whereas under a Council Directive of 17 December
                                                                                         Article 5
 1974, medium-term financial assistance was granted
under Article 108 (2) ; and whereas this form of                The Commission shall reserve the right to amend or
mutual assistance is still in force ;                           repeal this Decision before the date fixed in Article 6
Whereas, by Council Decision 76/322/ EEC of 15                  if it finds that the circumstances motivating its adop­
March 1976, additional financial aid has also been              tion have changed or that its effects are more restric­
granted to the Italian Republic in the form of Commu­           tive than is required for the attainment of its purpose
nity loans ;
                                                                or are having particularly serious consequences for
                                                                trade, particularly in agricultural products coming
Whereas such financial aid has not sufficed by itself           under a common organization of the market.
to stem the depreciation of the lira ; whereas, accord­
ingly, effective — though temporary — measures                                           Article 6
must be adopted with the essential aim of achieving
the reabsorption on a large scale of monetary liquid­           The authorization accorded by this Decision to
ity ;                                                           require deposits shall expire on 5 August 1976.
Whereas the Italian Republic should therefore be auth­                                   Article 7
orized to reintroduce machinery for non-interest­
bearing cash deposits, this machinery to cover all tran­        This Decision is addressed to the Italian Republic .
sactions involving the purchase of foreign exchange,
                                                                Done at Brussels, 5 May 1976 .
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION :
                                                                                           For the Commission
                        Article 1
                                                                                               The President
The Italian Republic is authorized to require the
lodging for a period of three months of a non-interest­                                   Francois-Xavier ORTOLI