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A. S. Bergantino: Tonnage tax: the Italian proposal and the European experiences
on the national register. even when such registration is not set down as
qualifying condition.
c) The traffie admitted
In generaI. in the various European countries, no express distinction
is made, for the purposes of admitting a vessel to the regime, between
ships used in coastal navigation and ships used in intemational traffico
This lack of provision is to be put down to the fact that in some cases it
would be extremely difficult to make such a distinction. However, the absence
of any distinction allows operators who are "sheltered" from competition
by operators of third countries - in that the latter cannot freely
access Community coastal navigation trades -, to be admitted to the
lump-sum regime. If the objective of the measure is for the national fleet
to achieve a competitive edge over third countries' fleets, ships operating
in cabotage traffic should not be admitted to the lump-sum regime. Ho\Vever,
it should be a decision taken at Community leve!.
Since most of Europe has failed to exclude from tonnage tax ships
used in coastal navigation, a similar decision on the part of Italy
would be greatly damaging on account of the almost compi et ed liberalization
for EU operators of coastal navigation among member
countries.
It might be appropriate then, to distinguish between European and
national coastal navigation traffic (over medium to long distances), exposed
to the competition of other European countries, and 'Iocal' traffic
(links with minor islands), which in this respect, is for the most part stili
protected (27). The inherent difficulties in differentiating between ships
used in the t\Vo types of traffic could in part be solved by referring to a
size limito
d) Limits based on eompanies' legai form
The United Kingdom, pursuing the twofold objective of establishing
a stringent ring fencing and of attracting a greater number of vessels,
introduced the obligation of 'group acces": ali the companies belonging
to the same group are to opt for the regime, ali in ali aut. The latter,
however, is the most controversial aspect of the British legislation
and the mai n obstacle in the way of the measure achieving greater su c-
(27) A differentiated system is in force in Greece. The lump-sum taxation regime
applies also to ships that only calI at national ports; the tax to be paid by these ships,
however, is obtained through the use of different coefficients and the final ouday is
calculated in the Iocal currency (whereas ordinary tonnage tax is calculated in dol­
Iars), see footnote 28.
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