¹Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, Cardiff UK. E-mails: Marlow@cardiff.ac.uk, MitroussiK@cardiff.ac.uk

Abstract

The critical role shipping taxation has played in the structure and evolution of the shipping business over the last century can easily be recognised. Whether connected with the actual initiation of the open registries scheme or as a means to improve competitiveness of traditional flags, shipping taxation attracts the attention of shipping practitioners and policy makers and constitutes an always topical focus of study. Recent years have particularly seen the rise and growth of tonnage tax system as no longer merely an inventive tax format but as a global standard of shipping taxation, which is in operation for 70% of the global ocean-going fleet. An examination of the European Union (EU) shipping taxation policy exhibits particular interest not only due to the fact that a number of significant traditional ship-owning nations are part of the EU – for example, Greece and the UK – but also due to the presence of fairly recently joined countries with a substantial role in international shipping as popular open registries – for example, Cyprus and Malta. The aim of this paper is to investigate the shipping taxation policy of the EU by concentrating on the forms this takes in selected European countries and to examine critically the comparative position of Greek shipping in this context.