PROCEDURES IN VERBAND MET DE UITVOERING VAN HET GEMEENSCHAPPELIJK MEDEDINGINGSBELEID

COMMISSIE

STEUNMAATREGELEN VAN DE STATEN — IERLAND

Steunmaatregel C 2/08 (ex N 572/07) — Wijziging van de tonnagebelasting Uitnodiging overeenkomstig artikel 88, lid 2, van het EG-Verdrag opmerkingen te maken

(Voor de EER relevante tekst)

(2008/C 117/14)

Bij brief van 15 januari 2008, die na deze samenvatting in de authentieke taal is weergegeven, heeft de Commissie Ierland in kennis gesteld van haar besluit tot inleiding van de procedure van artikel 88, lid 2, van het EG-Verdrag ten aanzien van bovengenoemde steunmaatregel.

Belanghebbenden kunnen hun opmerkingen over de betrokken steunmaatregel ten aanzien waarvan de Commissie de procedure inleidt, maken door deze binnen een maand vanaf de datum van deze samenvat- ting en de daaropvolgende brief toe te zenden aan:

Europese Commissie

Directoraat-generaal Energie en Vervoer Directoraat A, Interne markt en Mededinging DM 28, 6/109

X-0000 Xxxxxxx

Fax (00-0) 000 00 00

Deze opmerkingen zullen ter kennis van Ierland worden gebracht. Een belanghebbende die opmerkingen maakt, kan, met opgave van redenen, schriftelijk verzoeken om vertrouwelijke behandeling van zijn identiteit.

TEKST VAN DE SAMENVATTING

1. PROCEDURE

1. Bij elektronische post van 3 oktober 2007 en 19 no- vember 2007 hebben de Ierse autoriteiten kennisgeving gedaan van een wijziging van de bestaande tonnagebelas- tingsregeling N 504/02.

2. XX XXXXXX

0. Xx Xxxxx tonnagebelasting van 2002 is een „belastingsrege- ling die geldt voor scheepvaartondernemingen die maritiem vervoer verzorgen. In aanmerking komende ondernemingen kunnen ervoor kiezen hun scheepvaartactiviteiten te laten belasten op basis van het nettotonnage van hun vloot in plaats van op hun feitelijke winst” (1).

3. Eén van de voorwaarden om „in aanmerking te komen voor de tonnagebelastingsregeling is dat het aandeel van de in aanmerking komende schepen waarvan de onderneming zelf eigenaar is, berekend op basis van hun tonnage, niet kleiner is dan 25 % van de tonnage van alle in aanmerking komende

(1) Beschikking C(2002) 4371 def. van de Commissie van 11 december 2002, punt 26.

schepen van de onderneming. Om voor de tonnagebelastingsre- geling in aanmerking te komen en te blijven, mag de onderne- ming niet meer dan 75 % van de nettotonnage van de door haar geëxploiteerde in aanmerking komende schepen hebben gechar- terd (ook „tijdcharter” genoemd). […] „Een schip charteren” betekent, het huren samen met de door de reder geleverde beman- ning, in tegenstelling tot de definitie van gebruikscharter waarbij de huurder het schip moet bemannen.”.

4. De Ierse autoriteiten zijn nu voornemens bovenstaande tijdcharterbeperking te schrappen. Overeenkomstig hun huidige kennisgeving kan een onderneming of een groep ondernemingen dus onder de tonnagebelastingsregeling vallen zonder één schip in eigendom te hebben.

3. EVALUATIE

5. Wat de aanwezigheid van staatssteun betreft, is de Commissie van mening dat de kennisgeving waarop deze beschikking betrekking heeft de kwalificatie van de in 2002 goedgekeurde tonnagebelasting als staatssteun op geen enkele wijze verandert.

6. In de richtsnoeren worden weliswaar geen grenzen vastge- steld voor de toepassing van de tonnagebelastingsregeling op schepen met het tijdcharterstatuut, maar de Commissie heeft er in haar besluitvormingspraktijk steeds zorgvuldig op toegezien op dit gebied vervalsing van de mededinging te voorkomen en in de praktijk een gelijk speelveld voor alle marktdeelnemers te waarborgen, meer bepaald door inachtneming van een verhouding van ongeveer 1 op 3 of 1 op 4 schepen in eigendom ten opzichte van schepen met het tijdcharterstatuut.

7. De Commissie is van oordeel dat het schrappen een derge- lijke beperking in één of meerdere lidstaten de mededin- ging kan vervalsen en dus een gelijk speelveld op EU-niveau in het gedrang kan brengen.

TEKST VAN DE BRIEF

„The Commission wishes to inform Ireland that, having examined the information supplied by your authorities on the measure referred to above, it has decided to initiate the proce- dure laid down in Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty.

1. PROCEDURE

1. By electronic letters of 3 October 2007 and 19 November 2007, the Irish authorities notified an amendment to the existing tonnage tax scheme N 504/02, initially approved by the Commission on 11 December 2002 (2).

2. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE MEASURE

2.1. Summary of the 2002 tonnage tax

2. The Irish tonnage tax of 2002 is a “tax scheme applicable to shipping companies engaged in seagoing transport. Qualifying companies may choose to have their shipping activities taxed on basis of the net tonnage of their fleet instead of on the basis of their actual profits. Qualifying companies must opt for the regime within three years from the date of the entry into force of the legislation. Companies having opted for the tonnage tax must remain subject to this regime for a period of 10 years (tonnage tax period).

If several qualifying Irish companies are members of the same group of companies, all of them must opt for the tonnage tax system. Business activities other than those subject to the tonnage tax would be taxed on the basis of the normal provisions of corporate taxation.

Under the […] tonnage tax scheme the amount of tax for qualifying maritime companies is established on the basis of the net tonnage of their qualifying fleet. For each vessel subject to the tonnage tax, the taxable profits pertaining to qualifying activities shall be fixed at a lump sum calcu- lated by reference to its net tonnage as follows, per 100 net tons (NT) and per 24-hour period started, irre- spective of whether the vessel is operational or not:

Up to and including

1 000 net tons EUR 1,00 per 100 NT

Between 1 001 and

10 000 net tons EUR 0,75 per 100 NT

(2) Document C(2002) 4371 fin.

Between 10 001 and

25 000 net tons EUR 0,50 per 100 NT

More than 25 000 net tons EUR 0,25 per 100 NT

The standard Irish corporation tax of 12,5 % is then applied to the profits determined in that way” (3).

3. Amongst others, one “precondition for being eligible for the tonnage tax scheme is that the share of qualifying ships owned by the company itself, calculated on their tonnage, is not less than 25 % of the tonnage of all its qualifying ships. It is indeed required for entering and remaining within tonnage tax that a company should not have “chartered in” (also time charter) more than 75 % of the net tonnage of the qualifying ships operated by it. In the case of a group, the limit is 75 % of the aggregate net tonnage of all the qualifying ships operated by all group members that are qualifying companies. “To charter in a ship” means to rent it with a crew provided by the char- terer, in contrast to the definition of the bareboat charter whereby the lessee must man the ship” (4).

2.2. The notified amendments

2.2.1. Removal of time charter limit

4. The Irish authorities now intend to abolish the above time charter limitation. Thus, according to their present notifi- cation, a company or a group of companies could benefit from the tonnage tax without owning a single ship. Accor- ding to the Irish authorities the abolition of that limit is required for several reasons:

(a) to secure Irish-based shipping companies, fulfilling all other current qualification criteria but unable to elect to tonnage tax due to an excess of time chartering activity;

(b) the amendment of the above provision allows for additional flexibility for Irish tonnage tax companies engaged in tonnage tax activity to capitalise on market conditions where otherwise they would be in breach of tonnage tax conditions;

(d) to increase expansion of on-shore ship-management activity;

(e) to avoid ceding business to non-tonnage tax and ulti- mately non-EU ship operators or being expelled from the Irish tonnage tax regime for breaching the limit.

2.2.2. Duration

5. The notified amendment of the tonnage tax shall be appli- cable only after Commission approval, but retroactively commencing from the appearance of the amendment in national legislation in January 2006.

(3) Commission Decision of 11 December 2002 C(2002) 4371 fin, points (3) to (6).

(4) Commission Decision of 11 December 2002 C(2002) 4371 fin, point (26).

6. The amendment does not alter the duration of tonnage tax: the current tonnage tax regime is limited in duration to 10 years. “Qualifying companies” will, in general, have 36 months only in which to elect to enter the tonnage tax regime on becoming qualifying companies i.e. a company chargeable to Irish corporation tax, operating “qualifying ships” and carrying on the strategic and commercial management of the qualifying ships in Ireland.

2.2.3. Beneficiaries

7. The amendment will apply to all companies that are currently in a position to benefit from the tonnage tax regime and to the following: those qualifying companies, or groups of companies

(a) chargeable to Irish corporation tax;

(b) whose profits are derived from qualifying ships carrying on “qualifying activities” and which opt for the tonnage tax regime; and

2.2.4. Budget

8. The Irish authorities project that the first year cost of this measure, applied from 1 January 2006 will be in the region of EUR 5,88 million in the immediate short-term given the current market upturn. It is anticipated that the cost in the medium term (+ 2 years) will fall as earnings fall to more typical market levels, approximately EUR 1,38 million.

2.3. Time charter

9. In cases where the inclusion of time chartered vessels under the tonnage tax was notified, the Commission's decisional practice has focussed on schemes complying with a proportion of one owned vessel to maximum three time chartered vessels (1:3). In the case of Denmark, taking account of the arguments provided, a proportion of (1:4) was authorised (5).

(5) 1. Dutch tonnage tax (N 738/95, approved on 20 March 1996) no indications on ratio;

2. German tonnage tax (Case N 396/ 98, approved on 25 November 1998) ratio owned to time chartered shps 1:3;

3. UK tonnage tax (Case N 790/99, approved on 2 August 2000)

ratio owned to time chartered shps 1:3;

4. Spanish tonnage tax (Case N 736/01, approved on 27 February 2002) ratio owned to time chartered shps 1:3;

5. Danish tonnage tax (Case N 563/01, approved on 12 March 2002) ratio owned to time chartered shps 1:4;

6. Finnish tonnage tax (Case N 195/02, approved on 16 October 2002) ratio owned to time chartered shps 1:1;

7. Irish tonnage tax (Case N 504/02, approved on 11 December 2002) ratio owned to time chartered shps 1:3;

8. Belgian tonnage tax (Case N 433/02, approved on 19 March 2003) ratio owned to time chartered shps 1:3;

9. French tonnage tax (Case N 737/02, approved on 13 May 2003)

ratio owned to time chartered shps 1:3;

10. Basque (Sp) tonnage tax (Case N 572/02, approved on 5 February 2003) ratio owned to time chartered shps 1:3;

11. Italian tonnage tax (N 114/04, approved on 20 October 2004) no indications on ratio;

12. Lithuanian tonnage tax (Case N 330/05, approved on 19 July 2006) ratio owned to time chartered shps 1:3;

13. Polish tonnage tax (Case N 93/06, approved on 10 July 2007)

ratio owned to time chartered shps 1:4.

3. ASSESSMENT

3.1. Presence of aid

10. As regards the presence of aid, the Commission considers that the notification that is the subject matter of the present decision does not in any way alter the qualifica- tion as State aid of the Irish tonnage tax approved in 2002.

11. Indeed, even after a potential abolition of the said time charter limit, the Irish authorities would still be granting subsidies through State resources and thereby favour certain undertakings since the measure is specific to the shipping sector. Such subsidies threaten to distort compe- tition and could affect trade between Member States since such shipping activities are essentially carried out on an international level playing field. For these reasons, the notified amendment of the 2002 Irish tonnage tax does not alter its aid qualification within the meaning of Article 87(1) of the Treaty.

3.2. Legal basis for assessment

12. The legal basis for assessing the compatibility of the noti- fied measures are the Community Guidelines on State aid to maritime transport (6) (hereinafter the guidelines).

3.3. Compatibility of the measure

13. Even though the guidelines do not mention any limits for the inclusion of time chartered ships under tonnage tax schemes, in its decision making practice the Commission has authorised schemes where companies with a ratio of 1:3 or 1:4 owned to time chartered ships were eligible to tonnage tax. The exception of the 1:4 ratio as compared to the initial 1:3 ratio in Decision No 563/2001/EC concer- ning the initial approval of the Danish tonnage tax was justified on the basis of an in depth market analysis and the following arguments reproduced below:

14. It should first be mentioned that the Commission is promoting the respect of a level playing field between Member States that apply a Tonnage Tax. A first observa- tion in this respect shows that the guidelines do not provide for any restriction to the proportion of chartered vessels, which may be allowed under a Tonnage Tax. Second, it is to be noted that the Member States which notified the Commission of a Tonnage Tax in the past could thus freely choose the proportion of chartered ships to notify. Third, Denmark has chosen a respective propor- tion of 1:4 on the basis that its maritime industry has a long lasting tradition to operate in a more intensive way by means of chartered ships as compared to those Member States which notified a lower proportion. Fourth, the Commission can accept that a lower proportion than 1:4 in other Member States will thus not provide a competitive disadvantage to their Tonnage Tax schemes as compared to the Danish one, since they could have noti- fied otherwise. And fifth, the Danish Tonnage Tax has a feature (the non-remittance of deferred taxes) which may potentially make this scheme less attractive as compared to other Tonnage Tax schemes (7).

(6) OJ C 13. 17.1.2004.

(7) Commission Decision No 563/2001/EC, point 3.3.2.

15. The Commission notes that Ireland did not provide argu- ments such as the ones provided here above under point three and five and notes that the full abolition of such time charter limits may trigger fiscal competition between more or less attractive tonnage tax schemes across the EU. In the light of the guidelines' acknowledgement that such fiscal competition needs to be taken into account (8), the amendments proposed by the Irish authorities under the present notification to fully remove the time charter limit may be contrary to the “common interest” expressed in Article 87(3) c of the Treaty on which the approval of tonnage taxes is based.

3.4. The Commission's doubts

16. For the above mentioned reasons the Commission expresses its doubts as regards the compatibility of a unila- teral abolition by Ireland of the maximum number of time chartered ships allowable under its tonnage tax scheme.

17. On the same grounds the Commission also expresses its doubts as regards any potential retroactivity of the planned measure. This may occur in case aid related to the amendment in object is effectively granted as from January 2006.

In the light of the foregoing considerations, the Commission, acting under the procedure laid down in Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty, requests Ireland to submit its comments and to provide all such information as may help to assess the measure, within one month of the date of receipt of this letter. It requests your authorities to forward a copy of this letter to the potential recipient of the aid immediately.

The Commission wishes to remind Ireland that Article 88(3) of the EC Treaty has suspensory effect, and would draw your atten- tion to Article 14 of Council Regulation (EC) No 659/1999, which provides that all unlawful aid may be recovered from the recipient.

The Commission warns Ireland that it will inform interested parties by publishing this letter and a meaningful summary of it in the Official Journal of the European Union. It will also inform interested parties in the EFTA countries which are signatories to the EEA Agreement, by publication of a notice in the EEA Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union and will inform the EFTA Surveillance Authority by sending a copy of this letter. All such interested parties will be invited to submit their comments within one month of the date of such publica- tion.”.

(8) Guidelines point 3.1: Fiscal treatment of shipowning companies.

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