Original scientific paper
Application of community rules on state aids in the ports sector
Božena Bulum
; Jadranski zavod HAZU, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
The state aid rules in the EC Treaty apply to seaports as they do to all other sectors
of the economy. Under Article 88 (3) of the EC Treaty Member states are obliged to
notify state aids in the ports sector. Aids which have not been notified are automatically
unlawful. But state aid policy in the ports sector has also its political dimension. The
reason for that lies in the fact that the majority of ports in the EU are state-owned
and ports are seen as a public service. Because of that state intervention in ports is
present in a greater amount than elsewhere in the economy. Although there had been
some studies of state aids in the port sector carried out on Community level in 1970s
and 1980s, no specific measures had ensued. In the Green Paper on Seaports and
Maritime Infrastructure the Commission proposed “a user pays” principle in the field
of state aids in the ports sector analogous to “polluter pays” principle in environmental
law. According to user pays principle users have to bear the real costs of the seaport
infrastructures which they are using. This principle is abandoned in Commission
Communication from 2001 (Ports Package) and selectivity criterion is set out as the
only benchmark for deciding whether a concrete investment measure in the ports sector
constitutes an aid or not. An important document on state aid policy in seaports sector
is Vademecum on community rules on state aid and the financing of the construction
of a seaport infrastructures which is being analysed in this paper as well as the recent
Commission decision about state aid for construction of a new port in JadeWeserPort
case which is foundation for our predictions about a future common European state
aid policy in seaports sector.
Keywords
state aids in seaport sector; general infrastructure; user-specific infrastructure; superstructure; mobile assets; port services; “user pays“ principle; selectivity principle; market economy investor principle; guidelines on state aids in ports
Hrčak ID:
41945
URI
Publication date:
30.8.2009.
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