Fiscal state aid to promote clean transport

Abstract:

The diffusion of non-conventionally fuelled vehicles compared to conventional ones experienced significant constraints due to their higher cost and the lack of adequate public charging facilities. The EU, to overcome such constraints, adopted measures that encourage a shift towards more sustainable forms of mobility. In this domain EU Member States are adopting fiscal and direct incentives. The lack of coordination has nonetheless generated discrepancies among States in terms of vehicles sales.

The article will focus on the relationship between fiscal and direct incentives and State aid. An assessment will verify under what conditions fiscal and direct incentives, aiming to promote clean transport, may be exempted from the general prohibition of State aid. To obtain a full picture, the impact of the freedoms of movement on tax legislation will be considered in tandem to EU provisions on discriminatory levies. The study concludes highlighting how electric vehicles cannot be axiomatically assumed to have zero CO2 emissions.