The great evolution in the transport sector industry has interested also the market of transport infrastructures, with particular regard to their construction, management and utilisation. Therefore the bodies managing ports and airports have shifted from "simple" authorities charged of functions of public interest to market competitors. Due also to EU policy, competition has been gradually introduced: whereas at a first time, the application of competition rules was essentially limited to some sectors, like the market of handling services, it appears clearly that it is espanding to other related activities, such as, for example, the financing of transport infrastructures, which has been interested by an evolution of the EU case law on this subject and, recently, in the aviation sector, by the Community Guidelines of 2005 on financing of airports and start-up aid to airlines departing from regional airports. This new situation has had very important effects on the role of States and public authorities in the management and financing of harbours and airports and on the regulation of their activities. Despite the provision of Section II.3 of the Commission’s 1994 Guidelines on the Application of Articles 92 and 93 of the EC Treaty and Article 61 of the EEA Agreement to State aids in the aviation sector, that considers the construction and enlargement of transport infrastructures, and their financing, as general measures of economic policy falling outside the scope of art. 87 of the EC Treaty (now art. 107 TFUE) and thus the notion of State aid, the new airports’ role of competitors in the market has revealed the inadequacy of this approach, leading to an abundant case law. The paper outlines the evolution of the Commission’s attitude towards this topic, which can be approximately divided into three main stages, until the 2004 leading case about the low-cost airline Ryanair and the Brussels Charleroi airport, and the 2005 Guidelines, focusing also on more present issues, such as those related to territorial marketing policies and the possible economic valuation of their social and economic effects according to the principle of a private investor in a market economy.
The public financing for the construction and operation of airport infrastructures / Elena Orru'. - STAMPA. - (2009), pp. 968-993. (Intervento presentato al convegno III International Conference on Transport: Reform and Liberalization tenutosi a CEDIT – Centro de Derecho del Transporte Internacional, Universidad Jaume I di Castellón de la Plana, Castellón de la Plana, Spagna. nel 16-18/04/2008).
The public financing for the construction and operation of airport infrastructures
ORRU', ELENA
2009
Abstract
The great evolution in the transport sector industry has interested also the market of transport infrastructures, with particular regard to their construction, management and utilisation. Therefore the bodies managing ports and airports have shifted from "simple" authorities charged of functions of public interest to market competitors. Due also to EU policy, competition has been gradually introduced: whereas at a first time, the application of competition rules was essentially limited to some sectors, like the market of handling services, it appears clearly that it is espanding to other related activities, such as, for example, the financing of transport infrastructures, which has been interested by an evolution of the EU case law on this subject and, recently, in the aviation sector, by the Community Guidelines of 2005 on financing of airports and start-up aid to airlines departing from regional airports. This new situation has had very important effects on the role of States and public authorities in the management and financing of harbours and airports and on the regulation of their activities. Despite the provision of Section II.3 of the Commission’s 1994 Guidelines on the Application of Articles 92 and 93 of the EC Treaty and Article 61 of the EEA Agreement to State aids in the aviation sector, that considers the construction and enlargement of transport infrastructures, and their financing, as general measures of economic policy falling outside the scope of art. 87 of the EC Treaty (now art. 107 TFUE) and thus the notion of State aid, the new airports’ role of competitors in the market has revealed the inadequacy of this approach, leading to an abundant case law. The paper outlines the evolution of the Commission’s attitude towards this topic, which can be approximately divided into three main stages, until the 2004 leading case about the low-cost airline Ryanair and the Brussels Charleroi airport, and the 2005 Guidelines, focusing also on more present issues, such as those related to territorial marketing policies and the possible economic valuation of their social and economic effects according to the principle of a private investor in a market economy.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
