Court set to make ruling on Belgian ferry levies

Date: 03/07/1997

By Chris Johnstone

A BATTLE over Belgium's apparently selective interpretation of when the single market started - and for whom - is approaching a courtroom climax.

Private ferry firms hit by the Belgian government's decision to drop some charges ahead of the start date for certain companies whilst maintaining them for others are looking to a September decision by a Belgian national court to resolve their dispute.

For most people, the single market started, and the need for most border checks ended, in January 1993. But Belgium was years ahead in anticipating the change and had already abandoned a levy of two ecu per passenger which was used to pay for immigration checks - but only for travellers using the former state-owned ferry company Regie des Transports Maritimes (RTM). Other, private rivals of RTM continued to face the same charges they had paid for years ahead of the single market's arrival.

In early 1993, P&O and North Sea Ferries' patience with the discriminatory regime ran out and the companies, which have now combined as P&O North Sea Ferries, refused to pay the levy and launched a court battle against the Belgian state's continued demands.

“It was completely unreasonable. We both had the same sort of passengers as RTM, but we were called on to make the payments while it was exonerated,” said a spokeswoman for P&O North Sea Ferries.

The firms originally launched a counter claim for 20 million ecu for payments made before 1993, but has now dropped this demand. The Belgian government is, however, continuing to demand 8 million ecu in levies which it claims the ferry companies should have paid after 1992.

Belgian officials justify their stand by arguing that it was not logical for the government to demand payment from a state company. “It would be like the government charging itself,” said a spokesman for the transport ministry.

P&O North Sea Ferries claim, however, that the Belgian government belatedly vindicated its stand by dropping immigration charges on all ferry companies on cross-Channel routes after the collapse of RTM and its replacement this year by a new private company, Sally Holyman, which operates fast catamarans between Ostende and Ramsgate.

The ferry firms are waging a fierce battle for passengers which has sparked a price war and attempts by operators to cut overcapacity on Channel crossings. P&O has already dropped its Zeebrugge-Hull service, with the joint company now concentrating on Zeebrugge-Hull and a series of freight services.