Brussels, 17/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 17 July, the European Commission concluded that a Spanish scheme granting tax benefits to certain economic interest groupings (EIGs) and their investors for the purchase of ships involving leasing and financing through tax relief is partly incompatible with EU rules on state aid. This scheme, which was set up in 2002, conferred a selective advantage on economic interest groupings and their investors over their competitors. The Commission was not notified of the scheme for the purpose of prior authorisation as required. In accordance with the principle of legal certainty, the Commission will not require the repayment of aid granted between the start of the scheme in 2002 and April 2007, when the Commission publicly declared a similar French scheme incompatible. The Spanish authorities must now determine, in accordance with the Commission decision, the amounts of incompatible aid to be recovered from the economic interest groupings and their investors. Competition Commissioner Joaquim Almunia explained that Spanish shipyards are not covered by the ruling and can continue to receive regional aid, aid for innovation and export credits.
Further to a series of complaints lodged mainly by shipbuilding operators in other member states, in June 2011 the Commission launched an in-depth investigation into the Spanish scheme for leasing and financing through tax relief. Under this scheme, a maritime transport company can purchase a ship via a complex contractual and financial structure involving an economic interest grouping, an investment vehicle - with tax transparency - held by investors wishing to reduce their basic taxable amount, rather than directly from a shipyard. In practice, the economic interest grouping acts on behalf of the maritime transport company purchasing the ship, acquires it on a financial leasing basis and pays it off in the three to five years after work starts on its construction. The economic interest grouping then benefits from taxation exclusively on the basis of tonnage, which is a special scheme applicable under the European rules to maritime transport companies, and hands the ship over to the transport company without paying capital gains tax. The maritime transport company acquires the ship with a reduction ranging from 20% to 30% on the purchase price charged by the shipyard, thus avoiding tax on the capital gains that have been made. However, as this reduction is awarded by the economic interest grouping, not by the state, the Commission takes the view that it does not constitute state aid to the maritime transport company.
The Commission says that the system is abusive and the Commission should have been notified it beforehand because it conferred a selective advantage on economic interest groupings and their investors over their competitors, which unfairly benefitted from being taxed on tonnage (but the ruling does not alter this). The Spanish government, which alone has information about the companies involved, must draw up a list of the said companies and calculate exactly how much aid each has illegally received - and then recover it. The Commission decision does not allow the beneficiaries to pass on the repayment obligations to third parties (such as shipyards), even under existing contracts. The scheme was advantageous for shipping companies that bought ships from EIGs with a 20% to 30% rebate on the price invoiced by the shipyard, but the Commission says this does not amount to state aid because the rebate is granted by the EIG, not the state, and it is meets the common interest objectives set by the Commission in its state aid guidelines for shipping. In November 2012, the Commission gave the go-ahead to a new Spanish scheme for the early depreciation of assets acquired via finance leases. (FG/transl.fl)