The European Commission announced on Friday 15 November that it has opened an in-depth investigation to assess whether the tax exemptions granted to ports under Italian law comply with EU State Aid rules.
Italy has not agreed to amend its corporate tax legislation, as requested by the Commission in January 2019. The Commission is therefore launching an in-depth investigation to determine whether or not its initial concerns about the compatibility of tax exemptions granted to Italian ports with EU State Aid rules are justified. If they are, the exemption from corporation tax granted to Italian ports would amount to 'existing aid', since this measure already existed before Italy's accession to the EU and the Commission would not be in a position to ask Italy to recover the aid already granted.
The opening of an in-depth investigation gives Italy and interested third parties - such as beneficiaries or competitors - the opportunity to submit their observations on the assessment of tax exemptions with regard to State Aid, in particular concerning the assessment of the economic nature of port activities and the effect on competition and trade. In Italy, port authorities are totally exempt from corporate income tax. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)