ENERGY & SUSTAINABILITY

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Requalification for registration tax purposes, by the Tax Authorities, of the transfer/constitution of surface rights in a company sale agreement, in the renewable energy sector.

The intent of amendment of the art. 20 of d.P.R. no. 131/86 (T.U. Registry Tax), firstly through the art. 1, p. 87, of Law no. 205/2017 and then with art. 1, p. 1084, of Law no. 145/2018, was to bound the practice of Tax Authorities of qualifying differently the effects of the acts notarized, for the redetermination of the higher registration taxes. Two recent judgments, in the renewable energy sector, give us the opportunity to evaluate the process of requalification of contracts (in accordance with the art. 20 before the adaptations), but above all consider how the case law marks the boundaries of the Tax Authorities action.

PV modules are “normal landscape aspect”

Administrative Courts provide increasing confirmation about the recent opinion that considers the photovoltaic modules an architectural component compliant with the landscape’s protection necessity, because of the construction style evolution, fully consented by the collectivity. In this respect, by judgment No. 496/2018, Milan Administrative Court has recently ruled that these new technologies are fully inserted in the landscape, innovating it and not being perceived as a negative visual factor. As a result, the competent Authorities will have to ground their possible denials in a specific and detailed way, taking into consideration the important consequence of the proof reversal.

New regulation on GSE’s powers in imposing sanctions – Possibility of voluntary disclosure.

The so called Benamati amendment to 2018 Financial Law – amendment approved in early December – aims at trying to make more flexible the GSE sanction system following GSE’ surveys on renewable energy plants.
The goal is to introduce a more proportional sanction system based upon the type and the rank of the violations ascertained by the GSE as well as a mechanism of voluntary disclosure to settle the consequences of possible violations thus further reducing the relevant sanctions applied by the GSE.