Commissie start procedure tegen Finland wegens belastingen op maritiem transport (en)

Today the Commission decided to issue a reasoned opinion⁽¹⁾ to Finland on the grounds that its legislation on fairway dues fails to comply with the European rules on the freedom to provide maritime transport services.⁽²⁾

The Commission is pressing ahead with the infringement proceedings against the discriminatory charges levied on vessels in Finland. The Finnish scheme breaches the European rules on the freedom to provide maritime transport services.⁽³⁾ In particular, it makes international operations in Finnish waters more difficult and more costly than purely national services. If no satisfactory response is received from the Finnish authorities within two months, the Commission may decide to refer this matter to the Court of Justice.

Although the services provided to vessels are the same, Finnish legislation imposes higher fees for use of waterways on international traffic than on vessels performing cabotage operations between two ports in Finland. The fairway charge is calculated differently in each case. Vessels performing cabotage operations are liable to payment of an annual lump sum calculated on the basis of the net tonnage of the vessels and entitling them to an unlimited number of voyages. No account is taken of their "ice class" for this purpose. By contrast, vessels entering a Finnish port from another country must pay a charge based on both net tonnage and ice class for each of their first 10 or 32 voyages, depending on the type of vessel.

Although the Finnish legislation does not discriminate on grounds of the nationality of the provider of the services, it creates an obstacle to the freedom to provide services since it draws a distinction between international and domestic traffic, even though the services provided are the same. It therefore hampers operation of the internal market.

^{(1)Second stage in the infringement procedure laid down in Article 226 of the EC Treaty for failure to comply with obligations under the EC Treaty.}

^{(2)Council Regulation (EEC) No 4055/86 of 22 December 1986 applying the principle of freedom to provide services to maritime transport.}

^{(3)As provided for in Article 1 of Regulation (EEC) No 4055/86.}