The Italian Association of Port Terminal Operators (Assiterminal) confirms its support for the government's plan to reform the port legislation. During the last council meeting held in Genoa with the participation extended to all member companies, the contribution of various stakeholders and representatives of the institutions, referring to the procedure for evaluation of the bill C. 2925 currently under examination by the IX Transport Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, the association specified that "in the current phase of the parliamentary debate, Assiterminal confirms the positive evaluation of the route undertaken with the aim of providing Italy with a strategic strategy for the development of the port system national team".

However, Assiterminal also reported three main criticality of the measure, starting from the role of the Port System Authority and the attractiveness of the private investments. The association noted that, "according to the current wording, port concessions would continue formally to be issued by the System Authorities Portuale. However, if Ports of Italy (the new company that the bill proposes to establish for to concentrate at national level the planning and above all the construction of major port infrastructure works, ed.) was also in charge of carrying out "hot works", what which would risk partially replacing the current function of the the identification of the entity called upon to manage the terminal would essentially be within the competence of Ports of Italy, considering that management would represent the instrument through which remunerates the investments made for the construction of the works. The Port Authorities - observed Assiterminal - would remain therefore the merely formal function of a state-owned nature. An approach that recalls, albeit in a different context and without the presence of Ports of Italy, what has already been experimented for some works under construction, with the related problems of a legal nature that are still unresolved. In addition, the mechanism of remuneration of works through the "tariffs" of the terminal would end up substantially shifting the burden to the maritime customer. This arrangement could adversely affect on the attractiveness of private investment in the system port sector".

Assiterminal also invites you to clarify the roles between grantor and concessionaire. "The text - explained the association - allows Porti d'Italia to grant the works that are the subject of the concession of which it is foster carer. This ends up concentrating in a single subject the qualification of concessionaire (of a service of interest general economic value) and grantor in relation to the exact same object. This aspect lends itself to potential critical issues from the point of view of European law, also by virtue of a overlap with the Port System Authority (whose discipline would be "postponed" to a possible coordination agreement) which risks generating uncertainty on the governance plan and their respective responsibilities".

He then noted that "some provisions of the draft of law have a retroactive application in relation to concessions and relationships already in place, the association of terminal operators considers that 'these provisions should be deleted, as several amendments tabled have proposed. In the absence of such suppression - specified Assiterminal - would risk there is a strong legal uncertainty and a consequent disincentive to investment. There are - he pointed out THE ASSOCIATION - Several amendment proposals, at the moment set aside, which could favor median solutions in any case sustainable, such as, by way of example, 9.121 and 29.16".

Assiterminal therefore believes that "it is essential that the comparison on the reform continues with the current debate while preserving its strategic objective of strengthening the competitiveness and the unitary vision of the port but by intervening on the elements that could generate critical issues in terms of governance, certainty and the attractiveness of private investments".