EU court rules against Spanish port dues

EU court rules against Spanish port dues    The European Court of Justice ruled last week that the Spanish government has been providing unfair exemptions and reductions on harbor dues in certain ports.
   The court sided with the European Commission, which brought suit against the Kingdom of Spain.
   'The case concerns the compatibility of a Spanish law on port services with EU Regulation 4055/86, which applies the principle of freedom to provide services to maritime transport between member states and between member states and third countries,' wrote the European Sea Ports Organization (ESPO) in a newsletter Tuesday.
   'The Spanish law provides for a series of exemptions and rebates relating to harbor dues. Those exemptions and rebates depend on the ports of departure or destination of the vessels and have the consequence that more favorable tariffs are applied, first, to traffic between the Spanish archipelagos and Ceuta and Melilla and, second, to traffic between those ports and ports of the European Union and, third, between ports of the European Union.'
   The European Commission had issued warnings the system was discriminatory, stipulating that differentiation of harbor dues based on the national or intra-community status of traffic is not possible, ESPO said.