Major European ports including Antwerp and Le Havre have been asked to amend their tax regime.
The European Commission (EC) has demanded Belgium and France abolish corporate tax exemptions granted to their ports to bring them in line with with European Union (EU) state aid rules.
EC has justified its decision by saying that “tax exemptions do not pursue a clear objective of public interest, such as the promotion of mobility or multimodal transport”.
Belgium and France have until the end of the year to take the necessary steps and comply with the EC directive.
The decision could affect all major ports in the two countries, including Antwerp, Bruges, Dunkerque, Le Havre and Marseille.
Those ports are exempt from the general corporate tax regime.
"Must be removed"
Margrethe Vestager, commissioner in charge of competition policy, said: “The Commission decisions for Belgium and France – as previously for the Netherlands – make clear that unjustified corporate tax exemptions for ports distort the level playing field and fair competition.
“They must be removed.”
But the Commission says it won’t ask Belgium and France to recover aid already granted as the measures already existed before the countries’ accession to EU.
EC firstly raised its concerns about the two tax regimes in 2014 and a public investigation was launched last year.
The Commission has also asked Greece to end a special tax treatment for brokerages and other maritime services providers and to exclude port tugboats from the country’s tonnage tax regime.
