The European Commission decided today to launch a new inquiry into the reductions in excise duties applied to fuel used to heat glasshouses in Italy. Glasshouse producers benefit from a total exemption in excise duty on such fuel. At this stage, aid under this scheme would appear difficult to justify under the rules on state aid.

In February 2004, the Commission launched an initial inquiry (see IP/04/227 of 18 February 2004) – which is still underway – after Italian legislation granted glasshouse producers a greater partial reduction in excise duties on agricultural fuel than that granted to other operators in the agricultural sector.

Shortly after this initial inquiry was launched, the Commission discovered that glasshouse producers had actually been benefiting for several years from a total exemption in excise duties for fuel used to heat their glasshouses.

After receiving official notification of today’s decision, the Italian authorities will have one month in which to submit their observations and provide all necessary clarification. The decision will also be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and interested third parties will have one month from the date of publication to put forward their observations. These will be passed on to Italy, which will be able to comment on them.

Once it has received the clarification requested from the Italian authorities and any contributions from interested parties and Italy’s comments on these, the Commission will rule as soon as possible on the compatibility of the aid with the common market.