2002/782/EC: Commission decision of 12 March 2002 on the aid granted by Italy to Poste Italiane SpA (formerly Ente Poste Italiane) (Text with EEA relevance.) (notified under document number C(2002) 921)

• Articles: 3

Article 1

The payments for the collection and delivery of mail for the different public administrations granted by the Italian authorities in the period in question and the debt write-off of ITL 23 billion provided for by Law No 3/99 do not constitute State aid within the meaning of Article 87(1) of the Treaty.

Article 2

The support granted by the Italian authorities to Poste Italiane SpA (formerly known as Ente Poste Italiane and before that as Amministrazione Poste e Telecomunicazioni) from 1959 to 1999 in the form of the measures examined in this Decision and the granting of exclusive postal rights have not resulted in any overcompensation of the net extra costs arising out of the general service task entrusted to it and accordingly do not constitute State aid under Article 87(1) of the Treaty.

Article 3

This Decision is addressed to the Italian Republic.

Done at Brussels, 12 March 2002.

For the Commission

Mario Monti

Member of the Commission

(1) OJ C 367, 27.11.1998, p. 5; OJ C 28, 3.2.1999, p. 5.

(2) OJ L 15, 21.1.1998, p. 14.

(3) OJ C 39, 6.2.1998, p. 2.

(4) Notice relating to postal services.

(5) Postal Directive, Article 3(1).

(6) Postal Directive, Article 7(1).

(7) Italian Official Gazette No 293, 17.12.1997, p. 31, "Guidelines for restructuring the Italian Post Office".

(8) Only 0,8 % of the costs were deemed not to relate to the provision of services and were not allocated using the activity-based costing method.

(9) On the basis of this information the Commission finds that the methodology has been applied consistently and on a statistically significant number of accounts and that the "resource drivers" and the "activity drivers" are objective since they are the result of thorough statistical and empirical research and analysis of EPI's structure. In addition, the system is revised and improved on a yearly basis.

(10) Case T-106/95 FFSA [1997] ECR I-911, paragraph 188.

(11) Postal notice, section 3.2.

(12) Postal notice, section 3.4.

(13) Article 1 of 1995 contract.

(14) Article 3(1) to (4) of the 1995 contract.

(15) Articles 3(6)(c) and 6(1) of the 1995 contract.

(16) Article 6(2) of the 1995 contract.

(17) Article 6(3) of the 1995 contract.

(18) Article 6 of the 1995 contract, which inter alia concerns the public service obligations, refers to all the services classified as universal by the same contract in Article 1. Article 1 in turn refers to universal postal, financial and telecommunication services. For instance, in the past, the financial services in question have been described as a service provided in the interest of the population living in centres where there are no financial institutions who would otherwise not have access to the banking and financial market. By the same token Article 1(e) of the abovementioned 1997 Directive of the President of the Council of Ministers refers to the need to provide compensation for universal service obligations in the postal area and in the financial sector (postal banking).

(19) The reserved area was redefined following the implementation of the postal directive by decision of the Ministry of Communication of 2 February 2000 (Italian Official Gazette No 29, 5.2.2000).

(20) Indeed, as from 1994 the turnover generated in the reserved area has never been sufficient to cover the costs incurred by EPI and PI in providing the universal postal services.

(21) In the present decision, for the sake of clarity the term EPI will be used to refer to both EPI and PI, save where otherwise specified.

(22) PI's separate accounts of 1999 are based on the 1995 contract.

(23) Italian Official Gazette No 221, 21.9.2000.

(24) As introduced by Decree-Law No 394/92; the temporary annual tax on all Italian companies of 0,75 % of the balance sheet net equity was later abolished with effect from the fiscal year 1998.

(25) Article 8(2) of Law No 71/94; postal tariffs had previously been set directly by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.

(26) A service which is provided by PI and is not covered by a universal obligation or by any other general interest obligation.

(27) The entry into force of the new law was postponed to 1 January 2002 by Law No 344/2000.

(28) These payments are the sums that the State and other public bodies allocate to PI for the payment of pensions and other financial services as well as for the collection of post office savings. The latter service consists in collecting savings on behalf of the State (more precisely CDDPP) through current accounts (conti correnti postali) and savings products (buoni and libretti postali). For more details on the way these services operate see the opening decision.

(29) Due to the lack of analytical accounting data, the amounts for 1994 and 1995 were rounded upwards by the Commission as the difference between total operating result and the operating result of the postal and telecommunications services.

(30) With regard to these loans the Treasury does not offset the outflow relating to the reimbursement of the interest.

(31) Case C-305/89 Italy v Commission [1991] ECR I-1603.

(32) See Case C-387/92 Banco Exterior [1994] ECR I-877, paragraph 13, where the Court held that "the concept of aid is thus wider than that of subsidy because it embraces not only positive benefits, such as subsidies themselves, but also interventions which, in various forms, mitigate the charges which are normally included in the budget of an undertaking and which ... have the same effect".

(33) Communication to the Member States on the application of Articles 92 and 93 of the EEC Treaty and of Article 5 of Commission Directive 80/723/EEC to public undertakings operating in the manufacturing sector, OJ C 307, 13.11.1993, p. 3.

(34) See footnote 32.

(35) As the Treasury reimburses principal and interest on loans granted under Law No 887 of 1984 the amount of the advantage comprises the annual repayment of principal and interest. For other loans the Treasury offsets the reimbursement of the principal, but the interest is paid by EPI and PI (Laws Nos 39/82, 41/86 and 227/75). In this case the advantage is limited to the annual repayment of the principal. However, as will be shown below, even when EPI paid the interest it benefited from an advantage due to the low interest rate.

(36) Case C-142/87 Belgium v Commission [1986] ECR 231.

(37) Case T-16/96 Citiflyer [1998] ECR II-757.

(38) According to Bankitalia statistics the latter rate was as follows: 1994 10,22 %, 1995 11,44 %, 1996 10,68 %, 1997 8,26 %; 1998 6,22 %; 1999 4,46 %. On some of the loans granted under Law No 227/75 the interest rate was 9,75 %. This rate became higher than the market rate from 1997 and so there is no aid element from that year onward. The 1994 rate is a Commission estimate on the basis of the data published by Bankitalia.

(39) Difference between the average rate applied by banks on long- and medium-term loans to firms and the rate actually paid by EPI and PI to CDDPP, multiplied by the average amounts outstanding each year on the different loans granted by CDDPP for which the repayment of the interests is the sole responsibility of EPI.

(40) TNT and DHL can be cited as examples of foreign-controlled undertakings.

(41) See for instance Case 267/86 Van Eyke [1988] ECR 4769 and paragraph 23 of the Advocate-General's opinion; Case C172/80 Zuchner [1982] ECR 2021. See also Council Directive 88/361/EEC of 24 June 1988 for the implementation of Article 67 of the Treaty (OJ L 178, 8.7.1988, p. 5) and Second Council Directive 89/646/EEC of 15 December 1989 on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to the taking-up and pursuit of the business of credit institutions and amending Directive 77/780/EEC (OJ L 335, 10.12.1989, p. 67).

(42) See Case C-53/00 Ferring paragraph 23, not yet reported.

(43) See for example Case C-320/91 Corbeau [1993] ECR I-2533.

(44) OJ C 17, 19.1.2001, p. 4.

(45) Paragraph 22 of the communication.

(46) It includes the net cost of providing all the services for which the State imposed a general service obligation. In practice it includes the losses generated by universal postal and telecommunication services, given that the universal financial services have been profitable. Due to the lack of accounting data for 1994 and 1995 the Commission has rounded up the net cost of the public services in those years on the basis of the average ratio of net cost of the public services to operating result in the period 1996 to 1998.

(47) Case T-106/95 FFSA [1997] ECR I-911, paragraph 188.