Law concerning anti-crisis measures: energy provisions

Last updated: 5 November 2017
The Law no. 102 of 3 August 2009, concerning anti-crisis measures, includes three articles designed to accelerate the deployment of more advanced, efficient and energy-saving technologies.
The relevant articles are:
Art. 5 concerning the tax reduction for investment in capital goods (appliances and equipment);
Art. 6 concerning depreciation rates for capital goods investments;
Art. 6 bis concerning measures for business activity in public transport sector.
The tax reduction, applying only to businesses (i.e. not for self-employed workers), is applied to personal or corporate income tax and covers 50% of the appliance or equipment investment cost. The reduction can be applied exclusively to investments included into the table ATECO, section 28. This table specifies which types of appliance and equipment are included, essentially industrial equipment such as electric motors, turbines, compressors, heating and cooling systems, equipment for agriculture and metallurgical industry, etc. While the table does not specify energy performance thresholds for the equipment, the measure aims to encourage the replacement of existing equipment with newer, more efficient technology.
For 2009, the investments had to be made between 1 July and 31 December, and for 2010 the investments need to be made between 1 January and 30 June.
Article 6 on the revision of depreciation rates for capital goods provides that depreciation rates vary for equipment using more advanced technology and in relation to their energy performance, in order to take account of the evolving impact on production processes of more efficient equipment. The coefficients for the tax depreciation are to established by a subsequent decree.
Finally, Article 6bis for investments in the public transport sector provides grants to companies for the purchase of new buses that meet Euro 4 or Euro 5 emission standards. The grant can cover up to 75% of the purchase price, to a maximum of EUR 400,000 per company. Grants must also respect spending limits established for 2009 and 2010 (EUR 3 and 5 million respectively).

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