EC Allows Broader Concessions For Danish Maritime Industry

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

15 January 2009

The European Commission has given Denmark permission to alter the tax concessions available to its maritime industry; Denmark was eager to broaden the scope of its concessions to include dredging and cable-laying companies.

On January 13, the Commission announced that Denmark could extend the scope of certain types of aid to include maritime cable-laying and dredging activities. Currently only seagoing ships which are registered in the Danish International Shipping register are eligible for the concessions. The concession is an exemption from paying income tax or social security contributions for the seafarers they employ.

Having conducted a consultation on the proposal, the Commission concluded that the guidelines on state aid to maritime transport were applicable to cable-laying activities. This decision takes into account the fact that maritime cable-laying and maritime transport suffer from similar economic pressures.

With regard to dredging, the Commission finally concluded that the way in which the Danish authorities treat certain activities carried out by dredgers as maritime transport was acceptable.

Accordingly, the Commission decided to close the investigation launched on July 10, 2007 into the extension of the aid scheme to maritime cable-laying and dredging activities (subject to a minor amendment concerning maritime dredging).

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