Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly
THE NEW ITALIAN INTERNATIONAL SHIP REGISTER
Francesco Berlingieri
A. INTRODUCTION
As have several other merchant fleets of the European Union, the Italian merchant fleet has suffered a gradual reduction due to the very high operational costs and the equally high taxation level. The first attempt to combat the exodus of ships has been that of permitting a temporary exodus through so-called dual registration. Articles 28 and 29 of Law 14 June 1989, No. 234 (Law 234/1989) in fact permitted the suspension of the Italian flag in the event that a ship was bareboat chartered to a foreign charterer and was temporarily registered in the ships’ register of the State where the charterer had its place of business. Flag suspension was in practice conditional on the consent of the seamen’s unions since the owner was obliged to ensure that the crew be employed on the basis of collective agreements negotiated with the unions, wherein the number of Italian crew members (normally from four to six, including the master, the chief engineer and the chief mate) was specified.
Reduction of the crew cost was significant, but was not sufficient to enable Italian shipowners, operating through off-shore companies, to compete with shipowners whose ships were permanently flying a flag of convenience, and thus enjoyed full freedom in the employment of their crews and did not have to pay any income tax. The danger therefore existed that, if nothing were done to assist the shipping industry, most of the ships under flag suspension (about 100) would not return under the Italian flag at the end of the suspension period and that ships registered in Italy and flying the Italian flag would be transferred to other registers. It was, therefore, necessary to create significant incentives in order to induce Italian shipowners to keep their ships under Italian registration and, it was hoped, to transfer back to Italian registration ships presently registered abroad and flying flags of convenience.
Since competition is much stronger in international trade, because ships flying flags of convenience are not allowed to operate in the coastal trade, it was thought that the idea of creating an international register, in which only ships operating in international trade might be registered, could solve the problem. This was certainly not a new idea, international registers having been created, with greater or lesser success, in several other European countries; but the result of experience elsewhere has been one of the factors that finally induced the Italian Government, in consultation with the industry and with the unions, to present a Bill for the creation of an international register.
The Italian International Ships’ Register has been established with Decreto Legge 30 December 1997, No. 457 (DL 457/1997), converted with significant amendments by Law 27 February 1998, No. 30. The models of the new registers and certificates of registry
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