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THE GENOA INTERNATIONAL BOAT SHOW HOSTS “YACHTING TAX AND CUSTOMS” CONFERENCE WITH A FOCUS ON CUSTOMS REGULATIONS, INSPIRING A FUTURE ROUNDTABLE BETWEEN THE ITALIAN CUSTOMS AND MONOPOLY AGENCY AND THE ITALIAN MARINE INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION
The brimming events calendar defining the opening day of the 64th Genoa International Boat Show came to a close with the conference “Yachting, Tax and Customs“, the annual event organised by the Italian Marine Industry Association held to take stock of current tax, customs-related and sector-specific regulations.
This conference, along with the inaugural conference and Boating Economic Forecast, kicked off the Genoa Boat Show’s FORUM24 calendar, which enjoys the patronage of the European Commission, a recognition that confirms the Show’s role as an authority in specialised conference activity, organised by the Italian Marine Industry Association, on a national and a European level.
This year, the event dedicated to in-depth analysis of tax and customs regulations focused on the repeal of the unified customs regulation and the implications of transitioning to EU regulations for the yachting sector.
The opening ceremony was attended by the Central Director of Customs, Roberto Alesse, followed in the afternoon at the Forum Hall by Claudio Oliviero, Director of the Customs and Monopolies Agency’s Customs Directorate Office, who debated with Sara Armella, of Armella & Associati, Ezio Vannucci, of Moores Rowland Partners, and Carolina Villa, Vice-President of Assagenti, and moderated by Roberto Neglia, Head of Institutional Relations at the Italian Marine Industry Association.
During the conference, Director Oliviero reassured the sector’s operators about the continued validity and application of the procedures as identified by the relevant documents of practice, which were primarily aimed at simplifying the sector’s activities, even after the unified regulation loses its validity.
The repeal of the unified national regulation also opens up prospects for simplification such as, for example, as pointed out by Ezio Vannucci of Moore Rowland Partners, the possibility of aligning Italian regulations with those of its French neighbours when it comes to the cancellation of surety guarantees for refitting work. On this, Director Oliviero reassured the panel by explaining how “the tools are there, we just have to use them. This means we can also work on the matter of guarantees and improve on the relative 2020 Circular.”
Sara Armella recalled how the legislation, not just at a European level, is geared towards acknowledging AEOs (Authorised Economic Operators), which at present sector operators do not consider as competitive in terms of advantages. “Yes, this instrument is somewhat at a standstill and in Italy we do not have many AEOs compared to other countries. There is also the issue of there not being many clearly perceivable advantages, perhaps especially in the initial stages, but the European Union is rethinking the figure of the AEO as part of its project to reform the International European Code”.
Carolina Villa, Vice-President of Assagenti recalled that “the yachting sector boasts an exceptional economic and employment impact across Italy that derives not only from shipbuilding, but largely from the economic benefits that derive from the presence of yachting units in our waters. We must ensure that our coasts are not simply summer waypoints, but increasingly consolidated as places where people sail and possibly even stay over during the winter“.
The conference came to an end with a closing statement by Director Oliviero, who commented that he was willing to set up a round table with the Italian Marine Industry Association to identify measures that could clarify the application of EU regulations and put Italian companies in a better position to compete with those of other countries.
