1989R2299 — EN — 15.03.1999 — 002.001 — 1
This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents
►B COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC)No 2299/89
of 24 July 1989
on a code of conduct for computerized reservation systems
(OJ L 220, 29.7.1989, p. 1)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
►M1Council Regulation (EEC) No 3089/93 of 29 October 1993 L 278 1 11.11.1993
►M2Council Regulation (EC) No 323/1999 of 8 February 1999 L 40 1 13.2.1999
Corrected by:
►C1Corrigendum, OJ L 17, 25.1.1995, p. 18 (3089/93/EEC)
NB: This consolidated version contains references to the European unit of account and/or the ecu, which from 1 January
1999 should be understood as references to the euro — Council Regulation (EEC) No 3308/80 (OJ L 345, 20.12.1980,p. 1) and Council Regulation (EC) No 1103/97 (OJ L 162, 19.6.1997, p. 1).
1989R2299 — EN — 15.03.1999 — 002.001 — 2
▼B
COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC)No 2299/89
of 24 July 1989
on a code of conduct for computerized reservation systems
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic
Community, and in particular Article 84 (2) thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission(1),
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament(2),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Commit-
tee(3),
Whereas the bulk of airline reservations are made through computer-
ized reservation systems;
Whereas such systems can, if properly used, provide an important and
useful service to air carriers, travel agents and the travelling public byaffording easy access to up-to-date and accurate information onflights, fares and seat availability, making reservations and, in some
cases, issuing tickets and boarding passes;
Whereas abuses in the form of denial of access to the systems or dis-
crimination in the provision, loading or display of data or unreason-able conditions imposed on participants or subscribers can seriouslydisadvantage air carriers, travel agents and ultimately consumers;
Whereas this Regulation is without prejudice to the application of
Articles 85 and 86 of the Treaty;
Whereas Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2672/88(
4) exempts for
the provisions of Article 85 (1) of the Treaty agreements for the com-mon purchase, development and operation of computerized reservationsystems;
Whereas a mandatory code of conduct applicable to all computerized
reservation systems and/or distribution facilities offered for use and/orused in the Community could ensure that such systems are used in anon-discriminatory and transparent way, subject to certain safeguards,so avoiding their misuse while reinforcing undistorted competition
between air carriers and between computerized reservation systems
and thereby protecting the interests of consumers;
Whereas it would not be appropriate to impose obligations on a com-
puterized reservation system vendor or on a parent or participatingcarrier in respect of an air carrier of a third country which, alone orjointly with others, owns and/or controls another such system which
does not conform with this code or offer equivalent treatment;
Whereas a complaints investigation and enforcement procedure for
non-compliance with such a code is desirable,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
This Regulation shall apply to any computerised reservation system,
insofar as it contains air-transport products and insofar as rail-transportproducts are incorporated in its principal display, when offered for useor used in the territory of the Community, irrespective of:
— the status or nationality of the system vendor,
(1) OJ No C 294, 18. 11. 1988, p. 12.
(2) OJ No C 158, 26. 6. 1989.
(3) OJ No C 56, 6. 3. 1989, p. 32.
(4) OJ No L 239, 30. 8. 1988, p. 13.▼M2
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— the source of the information used or the location of the relevant
central data processing unit,
— the geographical location of the airports between which air car-
riage takes place.
Article 2
For the purposes of this Regulation:
(a) ‘unbundled air transport product’ means the carriage by air of a
passenger between two airports, including any related ancillaryservices and additional benefits offered for sale and/or sold as anintegral part of that product;
(b) ‘bundled air transport product’ means a prearranged combination
of an unbundled air transport product with other services not
ancillary to air transport, offered for sale and/or sold at an inclu-
sive price;
(c) ‘air transport product’ means both unbundled and bundled air
transport products;
(d) ‘scheduled air service’ means a series of flights all possessing the
following characteristics;
— performed by aircraft for the transport of passengers or pas-
sengers and cargo and/or mail for remuneration, in such amanner that seats are available on each flight for individualpurchase by consumers either directly from the air carrier or
from its authorized agents),
— operated so as to serve traffic between the same two or more
points, either;
1. according to a published timetable: or
2. with flights so regular or frequent that they constitute a
recognizably systematic series;
(e) ‘fare’ means the price to be paid for unbundled air transport pro-
ducts and the conditions under which this price applies;
(f) ‘computerized reservation system’ (CRS) means a computerized
system containing information about, inter alia, air carriers'
— schedules,
— availability,— fares, and
— related services,
with or without facilities through which:
— reservations may be made, or
— tickets may be issued,
to the extent that some or all of these services are made available
to subscribers;
(g) ‘distribution facilities’ means facilities provided by a system ven-
dor for the provision of information about air carriers' schedules,availability, fares and related services and for making reservationsand/or issuing tickets, and for any other related services;
(h) ‘system vendor’ means any entity and its affilates which is or are
responsible for the operation or marketing of a CRS;
(i) ‘parent carrier’ means any air carrier which directly or indirectly,
alone or jointly with others, owns or effectively controls a system
vendor, as well as any air carrier which it owns or effectivelycontrols;
(j) ‘effective control’ means a relationship constituted by rights, con-
tracts or any other means which, either separately or jointly andhaving regard to the considerations of fact or law involved, con-fer the possibility of directly or indirectly exercising adecisive
influence on an undertaking, in particular by:
— the right to use all or part of the assets of an undertaking,▼
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— rights or contracts which confer a decisive influence on the
composition, voting or decisions of the bodies of an undertak-ing or otherwise confer adecisive influence on the running of
the business of the undertaking;
(k) ‘participating carrier’ means an air carrier which has an agree-
ment with a system vendor for the distribution of air transportproducts through a CRS. To the extent that a parent carrier usesthe facilities of its own CRS which are covered by this Regula-tion, it shall be considered a participating carrier;
(l) ‘subscriber’ shall mean a person, other than a consumer, or an
undertaking, other than a participating carrier, using a CRS under
contract or other financial arrangement with a system vendor. Afinancial arrangement shall be deemed to exist where a specificpayment is made for the services of the system vendor or wherean air-transport product is purchased;
(m) ‘consumer’ shall mean any person seeking information about or
intending to purchase an air-transport product for private use;
(n) ‘principal display’ means a comprehensive neutral display of data
concerning air services between city-pairs, within a specified timeperiod;
(o) ‘elapsed journey time’ means the time difference between sched-
uled departure and arrival time;
(p) ‘service enhancement’ means any product or service offered by a
system vendor on its own behalf to subscribers in conjunction
with a CRS, other than distribution facilities;
(q) ‘unbundled rail-transport product’ shall mean the carriage of a
passenger between two stations by rail, including any relatedancillary services and additional benefits offered for sale or soldas an integral part of that product;
(r) ‘bundled rail-transport product’ shall mean a pre-arranged combi-
nation of an unbundled rail-transport product with other services
not ancillary to rail transport, offered for sale or sold at an inclu-
sive price;
(s) ‘rail-transport product’ shall mean both unbundled and bundled
rail-transport products;
(t) ‘ticket’ shall mean a valid document giving entitlement to trans-
port or an equivalent in paperless, including electronic, formissued or authorised by the carrier or its authorised agent;
(u) ‘duplicate reservation’ shall mean a situation which arises when
two or more reservations are made for the same passenger whenit is evident that the passenger will not be able to use more thanone.
Article 3
1. A system vendor shall have the capacity, in its own name as a
separate entity from the parent carrier, to have rights and obligations
of all kinds, to make contracts, inter alia with parent carriers, partici-
pating carriers and subscribers, or to accomplish other legal acts andto sue and be sued.
2. A system vendor shall allow any air carrier the opportunity to
participate, on an equal and non-discriminatory basis, in its distribu-tion facilities within the available capacity of the system concernedand subject to any technical constraints outside the control of the sys-tem vendor.
3. (a) A system vendor shall not:
— attach unreasonable conditions to any contract with a parti-
cipating carrier,▼
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— require the acceptance of supplementary conditions which,
by their nature or according to commercial usage, have noconnection with participation in its CRS and shall apply the
same conditions for the same level of service.
(b) A system vendor shall not make it a condition of participation
in its CRS that a participating carrier may not at the same timebe a participant in another system.
(c) A participating carrier may terminate its contract with a system
vendor on giving notice which need not exceed six months, toexpire not before the end of the first year.
In such aca se asystem ►
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to recover ◄more than the costs directly related to the termi-
nation of the contract.
4. If a system vendor has decided to add any improvement to the
distribution facilities provided or the equipment used in the provision
of the facilities, it shall provide information on and offer theseimprovements to all participating carriers, including parent carriers,with equal timelines and on the same terms and conditions, subject toany technical constraints outside the control of the system vendor, and
in such a way that there will be no difference in leadtime for the
implementation of the new improvements between parent and partici-pating carriers.
Article 3a
1. (a) A parent carrier may not discriminate against a competing CRS
by refusing to provide the latter, on request and with equaltimeliness, with the same information on schedules, fares and
availability relating to its own air services as that which it pro-
vides to its own CRS or to distribute its air transport productsthrough another CRS, or by refusing to accept or to confirmwith equal timeliness a reservation made through a competingCRS for any of its air transport products which are distributedthrough its own CRS. The parent carrier shall be obliged to
accept and to confirm only those bookings which are in confor-
mity with its fares and conditions.
(b) The parent carrier shall not be obliged to accept any costs in
this connection except for reproduction of the information to beprovided and for accepted bookings. The booking fee payableto a CRS for an accepted booking made in accordance withthis Article shall not exceed the fee charged by the same CRSto participating carriers for an equivalent transaction.
(c) The parent carrier shall be entitled to carry out controls to
ensure that Article 5 (1) is respected by the competing CRS.
2. The obligation imposed by this Article shall not apply in favour
of a competing CRS when, in accordance with the procedures of Arti-cle 11, it has been decided that that CRS is in breach of Article 4a orof Article 6 concerning parent carriers' unauthorised access to infor-
mation.
Article 4
1. Participating carriers and other providers of air transport products
shall ensure that the data which they decide to submit to a CRS areaccurate, non-misleading, transparent and no less comprehensive thanfor any other CRS. The data shall, inter alia , enable a system vendor
to meet the requirements of the ranking criteria as set out in theAnnex.
Data submitted via intermediaries shall not be manipulated by them in
a manner which would lead to inaccurate, misleading or discrimina-tory information.▼
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The principles stated in the first and second subparagraphs shall apply
to rail services in respect of data provided for inclusion in the princi-pal display.
2. A system vendor shall not manipulate the material referred to in
paragraph 1 in a manner which would lead to the provision of inaccu-
rate, misleading or discriminatory information.
3. A system vendor shall load and process data provided by partici-
pating carriers with equal care and timeliness, subject only to the con-
straints of the loading method selected by individual participating car-riers and to the standard formats used by the said vendor.
Article 4a
1. Loading and/or processing facilities provided by a system vendor
shall be offered to all parent and participating carriers without discri-mination. Where relevant and generally accepted air transport industrystandards are available, system vendors shall offer facilities compati-
ble with them.
2. A system vendor shall not reserve any specific loading and/or
procesing procedure or any other distribution facility for one or more
of its parent carrier(s).
3. A system vendor shall ensure that its distribution facilities are
separated, in a clear and verifiable manner, from any carrier's privateinventory and management and marketing facilities. Separation may
be established either logically by means of software or physically in
such a way that any connection between the distribution facilities andthe private facilities may be achieved by means of an application-to-application interface only. Irrespective of the method of separationadopted, any such interface shall be made available to all parent and
participating carriers on a non-discriminatory basis and shall provide
equality of treatment in respect of procedures, protocols, inputs andoutputs. Where relevant and generally accepted air transport industrystandards are available, system vendors shall offer interfaces compati-ble with them.
4. The system vendor shall ensure that any third parties providing
CRS services in whole or in part on its behalf comply with the rele-vant provisions of this Regulation.
Article 5
1. (a) Displays generated by a CRS shall be clear and non-discrimina-
tory.
(b) A system vendor shall not intentionally or negligently display
inaccurate or misleading information in its CRS.
2. (a) A system vendor shall provide a principal display or displays
for each individual transaction through its CRS and shallinclude therein the data provided by participating carriers onflight schedules, fare types and seat availability in a clear andcomprehensive manner and without discrimination or bias, inparticular as regards the order in which information is pre-
sented.
(b) A consumer shall be entitled to have, on request, a principal
display limited to scheduled or non-scheduled services only.
(c) No discrimination on the basis of airports serving the same city
shall be exercised in constructing and selecting flights for agiven city-pair for inclusion in a principal display.
(d) Ranking of flight options in a principal display shall be as set
out in the Annex.
(e) Criteria to be used for ranking shall not be based on any factor
directly or indirectly relating to carrier identity and shall be▼
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applied on a non-discriminatory basis to all participating car-
riers.
3. Where a system vendor provides information on fares, the dis-
play shall be neutral and non-discriminatory and shall contain at leastthe fares provided for all flights of participating carriers shown in theprincipal display. The source of such information shall be acceptable
to the participating carrier(s) and system vendor concerned.
4. Information on bundled products regarding, inter alia , who is
organizing the tour, availability and prices, shall not be featured in theprincipal display.
5. A CRS shall not be considered in breach of this Regulation to
the extent that it changes a display in order to meet the specificrequest(s) of aconsumer.
Article 6
1. The following provisions shall govern the availability of infor-
mation, statistical or otherwise, by a system vendor from its CRS:
(a) information concerning identifiable individual bookings shall be
provided on an equal basis and only to the air carrier or carriers
participating in the service covered by and to the subscribers
involved in the booking.
Information under the control of the system vendor concerning
identifiable individual bookings shall be archived off-line withinseventy-two hours of the completion of the last element in theindividual booking and destroyed within three years. Access tosuch data shall be allowed only for billing-dispute reasons.
(b) any marketing, booking and sales data made available shall be on
the basis that:
(i) such data are offered with equal timeliness and on a non-dis-
criminatory basis to all participating carriers, including par-ent carriers;
(ii) such data may and, on request, shall cover all participating
carriers and/or subscribers, but shall include no identification,
either directly or indirectly, of, or personal information on a
passenger or a corporate user;
(iii) all requests for such data are treated with equal care and
timeless, subject to the transmission method selected by theindividual carrier;
(iv) information is made available on request to participating carriers
and subscribers both globally and selectively with regard to the
market in which they operate;
(v) a group of airlines and/or subscribers is entitled to purchase data
for common processing.
2. A system vendor shall not make personal information concerning
a passenger available to others not involved in the transaction withoutthe consent of the passenger.
3. A system vendor shall ensure that the provisions in paragraphs 1
and 2 above are complied with, by technical means and/or appropriatesafeguards regarding at least software, in such a way that informationprovided by or created for air carriers can in no way be accessed byone or more of the parent carriers except as permitted by this Article.▼
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Article 7
1. The obligations of a system vendor under Articles 3 and 4 to 6
shall not apply in respect of a parent carrier of a third country to theextent that its CRS outside the territory of the Community does notoffer Community air carriers equivalent treatment to that providedunder this Regulation and under Commission Regulation (EEC) No83/91(
1).
2. The obligations of parent or participating carriers under Articles
3a, 4 and 8 shall not apply in respect of a CRS controlled by (an) air
carrier(s) of one or more third country (countries) to the extent that
outside the territory of the Community the parent or participating car-rier(s) is (are) not accorded equivalent treatment to that providedunder this Regulation and under Commission Regulation (EEC) No83/91.
3. A system vendor or an air carrier proposing to avail itself of the
provisions of paragraphs 1 or 2 must notify the Commission of its
intentions and the reasons therefor at least 14 days in advance of such
action. In exceptional circumstances, the Commission may, at therequest of the vendor or the air carrier concerned, grant a waiver fromthe 14-day rule.
4. Upon receipt of a notification, the Commission shall without
delay determine whether discrimination within the meaning of para-graphs 1 and 2 exists. If this is found to be the case, the Commissionshall so inform all system vendors or the air carriers concerned in the
Community as well as Member States. If discrimination within the
meaning of paragraph 1 or 2 does not exist, the Commission shall soinform the system vendor or air carriers concerned.
5. (a) In cases where serious discrimination within the meaning of
paragraph 1 or 2 is found to exist, the Commission may bydecision instruct CRSs to modify their operations►
C1appropriately in order ◄to terminate such discrimina-
tion. The Commission shall immediately inform Member States
of such adecision.
(b) Unless the Council, at the request of a Member State, takes
another decision within two months of the date of the Commis-sion's decision, the latter shall enter into force.
Article 8
1. A parent carrier shall neither directly nor indirectly link the use
of any specific CRS by a subscriber with the receipt of any commis-sion or other incentive or disincentive for the sale of air transport pro-ducts available on its flights.
2. A parent carrier shall neither directly nor indirectly require use
of any specific CRS by a subscriber for sale or issue of tickets forany air transport products provided either directly or indirectly by
itself.
3. Any condition which an air carrier may require of a travel agent
when authorizing it to sell and issue tickets for its air transport pro-
ducts shall be without prejudice to paragraphs 1 and 2.
Article 9
1. A system vendor shall make any of the distribution facilities of
a CRS available to any subscriber on a non-discriminatory basis.
(1) OJ No L 10, 15. 1. 1991, p. 9.▼B
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2. A system vendor shall not require a subscriber to sign an exclu-
sive contract, nor directly or indirectly prevent a subscriber from sub-scribing to, or using, any other system or systems.
3. A service enhancement offered to any other subscriber shall be
offered by the system vendor to all subscribers on a non-discrimina-tory basis.
4. (a) A system vendor shall not attach unreasonable conditions to
any subscriber contract allowing for the use of its CRS and, inparticular, a subscriber may terminate its contract with a systemvendor by giving notice which need not exceed three months,to expire not before the end of the first year.
In such aca se, asystem vendor sha ll not be entitled to recover
more than the costs directly related to the termination of thecontract.
(b) Subject to paragraph 2, the supply of technical equipment is
not subject to the conditions set out in (a).
5. A system vendor shall provide in each subscriber contract for:
(a) the principal display, conforming to Article 5, to be accessed for
each individual transaction, except where a consumer requests
information for only one air carrier or where the consumer
requests information for bundled air transport products alone;
(b) the subscriber not to manipulate material supplied by CRSs in a
manner which would lead to inaccurate, misleading or discrimina-
tory presentation of information to consumers.
6. A system vendor shall not impose an obligation on a subscriber
to accept an offer of technical equipment or software, but may requirethat equipment and software used be compatible with its own system.
Article 9a
1. (a) In the case of information provided by a CRS, a subscriber
shall use a neutral display in accordance with Article 5(2)(a)and (b) unless another display is required to meet a preferenceindicated by a consumer.
(b) No subscriber shall manipulate information provided by a CRS
in a manner that leads to inaccurate, misleading or discrimina-tory presentation of that information to any consumer.
(c) A subscriber shall make reservations and issue tickets in accor-
dance with the information contained in the CRS used, or asauthorised by the carrier concerned.
(d) A subscriber shall inform each consumer of any en route
changes of equipment, the number of scheduled en route stops,the identity of the air carrier actually operating the flight, andof any changes of airport required in any itinerary provided, tothe extent that that information is present in the CRS. The sub-
scriber shall inform the consumer of the name and address of
the system vendor, the purposes of the processing, the durationof the retention of individual data and the means available tothe data subject of exercising his access rights.
(e) A consumer shall be entitled at any time to have a print-out of
the CRS display or to be given access to a parallel CRS displayreflecting the image that is being displayed to the subscriber.
(f) A person shall be entitled to have effective access free of
charge to his own data regardless of whether the data is storedby the CRS or by the subscriber.
2. A subscriber shall use the distribution facilities of a CRS in
accordance with Annex II.▼
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Article 10
1. (a) Any fee charged to a participating carrier by a system vendor
shall be non-discriminatory, reasonably structured and reason-ably related to the cost of the service provided and used andshall, in particular, be the same for the same level of service.
The billing for the services of aCRS sha ll be sufficiently
detailed to allow the participating carriers to see exactly whichservices have been used and the fees therefor; as a minimum,booking fee bills shall include the following information foreach segment:
— type of CRS booking,
— passenger name,— country,— IATA/ARC agency identification code,— city-code,— city pair of segment,
— booking date (transaction date),
— flight date,— flight number,— status code (booking status),— service type (class of service),— passenger name record (PNR) locator, and— booking/cancellation indicator.
The billing information shall be offered on magnetic media.
The fee to be charged for the billing information provided in
the form chosen by the carrier shall not exceed the cost of themedium itself together with its transportation costs.
A participating air carrier shall be offered the facility of being
informed when any booking or transaction is made for which a
booking fee will be charged. Where a carrier elects to be soinformed, it shall be offered the option of disallowing any suchbooking or transaction, unless the latter has already beenaccepted. In the event of such a disallowance, the air carriershall not be charged for that booking or transaction.
2. A system vendor shall, on request, provide interested parties,
including consumers, with details of current procedures, fees and sys-tem facilities, including interfaces, editing and display criteria used.For consumers that information shall be free of charge and cover theprocessing of individual data. This provision shall not, however,
require a system vendor to disclose proprietary information such as
software.
3. Any changes to fee levels, conditions or facilities offered and
the basis therefor shall be communicated to all participating carriersand subscribers on a non-discriminatory basis.
Article 11
1. Acting on receipt of a complaint or on its own initiative, the
Commission shall initiate procedures to terminate infringement of theprovisions of this Regulation.
2. Complaints may be submitted by:
(a) Member States;
(b) natural or legal persons who claim a legitimate interest.
3. The Commission shall immediately forward to the Member
States copies of the complaints and applications and of all relevantdocuments sent to it or which it sends out in the course of such proce-dures.▼
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Article 12
1. In carrying out the duties assigned to it by this Regulation, the
Commission may obtain all necessary information from the Member
States and from undertakings and associations of undertakings.
2. The Commission may fix a time limit of not less than one month
for the communication of the information requested.
3. When sending a request for information to an undertaking or
association of undertakings, the Commission shall forward a copy of
the request at the same time to the Member State in whose territorythe head office of the undertaking or association of undertakings issituated.
4. In its request, the Commission shall state the legal basis and pur-
pose of the request and also the penalties for supplying incorrect
information provided for in Article 16 (1).
5. The owners of the undertakings or their representatives and, in
the case of legal persons or of companies, firms or associations nothaving legal personality, the person authorized to represent them bylaw or by their rules shall be bound to supply the information
requested.
Article 13
1. In carrying out the duties assigned to it by this Regulation, the
Commission may undertake all necessary investigations into undertak-ings and associations of undertakings. To this end, officials authorizedby the Commission shall be empowered:
(a) to examine the books and other business records;
(b) to take copies of, or extracts from, the books and business
records;
(c) to ask for oral explanations on the spot;
(d) to enter any premises, land and vehicles used by undertakings or
associations of undertakings.
2. The authorized officials of the Commission shall exercise their
powers upon production of an authorization in writing specifying thesubject matter and purpose of the investigation and the penalties pro-
vided for in Article 16 (1) in cases where production of the required
books or other business records is incomplete. In good time before theinvestigation, the Commission shall inform the Member State, inwhose territory the same is to be made, of the investigation and theidentity of the authorized officials.
3. Undertakings and associations of undertakings shall submit to
investigations ordered by decision of the Commission. The decisionshall specify the subject matter and purpose of the investigation,appoint the date on which it is to begin and indicate the penalties pro-vided for in Article 16 (1) and the right to have the decision reviewedin the Court of Justice.
4. The Commission shall take the decisions mentioned in paragraph
3 after consultation with the Member State in the territory of whichthe investigation is to be made.
5. Officials of the Member State in the territory of which investiga-
tion is to be made may assist the Commission officials in carrying out
their duties, at the request of the Member State or of the Commission.
6. Where an undertaking opposes an investigation ordered pursuant
to this Article, the Member State concerned shall afford the necessaryassistance to the officials authorized by the Commission to enablethem to make their investigation.
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Article 14
1. Information acquired as a result of the application of Articles 12
and 13 shall be used only for the purposes of the relevant request or
investigation.
2. Without prejudice to Articles 11 and 20, the Commission and
the competent authorities of the Member States, their officials andother servants shall not disclose information of a kind covered by theobligation of professional secrecy which has been acquired by them as
a result of the application of this Regulation.
3. Paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not prevent publication of general infor-
mation or of surveys which do not contain information relating to par-ticular undertakings or associations of undertakings.
Article 15
1. When an undertaking or association of undertakings does not
supply the information requested within the time limit fixed by the
Commission or supplies incomplete information, the Commission shallby decision require the information to be supplied. The decision shallspecify what information is required, fix an appropriate time limitwithin which it is to be supplied and indicate the penalties provided
for in Article 16 (1) as well as the right to have the decision reviewed
by the Court of Justice.
2. At the same time the Commission shall send a copy of its deci-
sion to the competent authority of the Member State in the territory ofwhich the head office of the undertaking or association of undertak-ings is situated.
Article 16
1. The Commission may, by decision, impose fines on undertakings
or associations of undertakings from ECU 1 000 to 50 000 where,intentionally or negligently:
(a) they supply incorrect information in response to a request made
pursuant to Article 12 or do not supply information within the
time limit fixed;
(b) they produce the required books or other business records in
incomplete form during investigations or refuse to submit to an
investigation pursuant to Article 13 (1).
2. The Commission may, by decision, impose fines on system ven-
dors, parent carriers, participating carriers and/or subscribers forinfringements of this Regulation up to a maximum of 10 % of theannual turnover for the relevant activity of the undertaking concerned.
In fixing the amount of the fine, regard shall be had both to the ser-
iousness and to the duration of the infringement.
3. Decisions taken pursuant to paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not be of a
penal nature.
Article 17
The Court of Justice shall have unlimited jurisdiction within the mean-
ing of Article 172 of the Treaty to review decisions whereby the
Commission has imposed a fine; it may cancel, reduce or increase thefine.
Article 18
For the purposes of applying Article 16, the ecu shall be that adopted
in drawing up the general budget of the European Communities inaccordance with Articles 207 and 209 of the Treaty.
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Article 19
1. Before taking decisions pursuant to Article 11 or 16, the Com-
mission shall give the undertakings or associations of undertakingsconcerned the opportunity of being heard on the matters to which theCommission takes or has taken objection.
2. Should the Commission or the competent authorities of the
Member States consider it necessary, they may also hear other naturalor legal persons. Applications by such persons to be heard shall begranted when they show a sufficient interest.
Article 20
1. The Commission shall publish the decisions which it adopts pur-
suant to Article 16.
2. Such publication shall state the names of the parties and the
main content of the decision; it shall have regard to the legitimate
interest of undertakings in the protection of their business secrets.
Article 21
1. Neither Article 5, Article 9(5) nor the Annexes shall apply to a
CRS used by an air carrier or a group of air carriers:
(a) in its or their own office or offices and sales counters clearly iden-
tified as such;
or
(b) to provide information and/or distribution facilities accessible
through a public telecommunications network, clearly and continu-ously identifying the information provider or providers as such.
2. Where booking is performed directly by an air carrier, that air
carrier shall be subject to Article 9a(d) and (f).
Article 21a
1. The system vendor shall ensure that the technical compliance of
its CRS with Articles 4a and 6 is monitored by an independent auditoron a calendar year basis. For that purpose, the auditor shall be grantedaccess at all times to any programmes, procedures, operations and
safeguards used on the computers or computer systems through which
the system vendor provides its distribution facilities. Each system ven-dor shall submit its auditor's report on his inspection and findings tothe Commission within four months of the end of the calendar yearunder review. The Commission shall examine those reports with a
view to taking any action necessary in accordance with Article 11(1).
2. The system vendor shall inform participating cariers and the
Commission of the identity of the auditor at least three months before
confirmation of an appointment and at least three months before each
annual reappointment. If, within one month of notification, any of theparticipating carriers objects to the capability of the auditor to carryout the tasks as required under this Article, the Commission shall,within a further two months and after consultation with the auditor,the system vendor and any other party claiming a legitimate interest,
decide whether or not the auditor is to be replaced.
Article 21b
1. Subject to this Article, this Regulation shall apply to the inclu-
sion of rail-transport products.▼
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2. A system vendor may decide to include rail services in the prin-
cipal display of its CRS.
3. Where asystem vendor decides to include ra il products in the
principal display of its CRS, it shall choose to include certain well-
defined categories of rail services, while respecting the principles sta-ted in Article 3(2).
4. A rail-transport operator shall be deemed to be a participating or
parent carrier, as appropriate, for the purposes of the code, insofar asit has an agreement with a system vendor for the distribution of itsproducts through the principal display of a CRS or its own reservation
system is a CRS as defined in Article 2(f). Subject to paragraph 5,
those products shall be treated as air-transport products and shall beincorporated in the principal display in accordance with the criteriaset out in Annex I.
5. (a) When applying the rules laid down in paragraphs 1 and 2 of
Annex I to rail services the system vendor shall adjust the rank-
ing principles for the principal display in order to take due
account of the needs of consumers to be adequately informedof rail services that represent a competitive alternative to theair services. In particular, system vendors may rank rail ser-vices with alimited number of short stops with non-stop directair services.
(b) System vendors shall define clear criteria for the application of
this Article to rail services. Such criteria shall cover elapsedjourney time and reflect the need to avoid excessive screenpadding. At least two months before their application those cri-
teria shall be submitted to the Commission for information.
6. For the purposes of this Article, all references to ‘flights’ in this
Regulation shall be deemed to include references to ‘rail services’ andreferences to ‘air-transport products’ shall be deemed to include refer-ences to ‘rail products’.
7. Particular attention shall be given to an assessment of the appli-
cation of this Article in the Commission's report under Article 23(1).
Article 22
1. This Regulation shall be without prejudice to national legislation
on security, public-order and data-protection measures taken in imple-mentation of Directive 95/46/EC(
1).
2. The beneficiaries of rights arising under Article 3 (4), Articles
4a, 6►C1and 21a cannot renounce ◄these rights by contractual or
any other means.
Article 23
Within two years of the entry into force of this Regulation, the Com-
mission shall draw up a report on the application of this Regulation
which shall, inter alia , take account of economic developments in the
relevant market. That report may be accompanied by proposals for therevision of this Regulation.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable
in all Member States.
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ANNEX I
Principal display ranking criteria for flights (1)offering unbundled air
transport products
1. Ranking of flight options in a principal display, for the day or days
requested, must be in the following order unless requested in adifferent
way by a consumer for an individual transaction:
(i) all non-stop direct flights between the city-pairs concerned;
(ii) all other direct flights, not involving a change of aircraft or train,
between the city pairs concerned;
(iii) connecting flights.
2. A consumer must at least be afforded the possibility of having, on request,
a principal display ranked by departure or arrival time and/or elapsed jour-
ney time. Unless otherwise requested by aconsumer, aprincipa l displa y
must be ranked by departure time for group (i) and elapsed journey time
for groups (ii) and (iii).
3. Where a system vendor chooses to display information for any city-pair in
relation to the schedules or fares of non-participating carriers, but not
necessarily all such carriers, such information must be displayed in an
accurate, non-misleading and non-discriminatory manner between carriers
displayed.
4. If, to the system vendor's knowledge, information on the number of direct
scheduled air services and the identity of the air carriers concerned is not
comprehensive, that must be clearly stated on the relevant display.
5. Flights other than scheduled air services must be clearly identified.
6. Flights involving stops en route must be clearly identified.
7. Where flights are operated by an air carrier which is not the air carrier
identified by the carrier designator code, the actual operator of the flight
must be clearly identified. That requirement will apply in all cases, except
for short-term ad hocarrangements.
8. A system vendor must not use the screen space in a principal display in a
manner which gives excessive exposure to one particular travel option or
which displays unrealistic travel options.
9. Except as provided in paragraph 10, the following will apply:
(a) for direct services, no flight may be featured more than once in any
principal display;
(b) for multi-sector services involving a change of aircraft, no combination
of flights may be featured more than once in any principal display;
(c) flights involving a change of aircraft must be treated and displayed as
connecting flights, with one line per aircraft segment.
Nevertheless, where the flights are operated by the same carrier with the
same flight number and where a carrier requires only one flight coupon
and one reservation, a CRS should issue only one coupon and should
charge for only one reservation.
10. 1. Where participating carriers have joint-venture or other contractual
arrangements requiring two or more of them to assume separate respon-
sibility for the offer and sale of air-transport products on a flight or
combination of flights, the terms ‘flight’ (for direct services) and ‘com-
bination of flights’ (for multi-sector services) used in paragraph 9 must
be interpreted as allowing each of the carriers concerned — not more
than two — to have a separate display using its individual carrier-desig-
nator code.
2. Where more than two carriers are involved, designation of the two car-
riers entitled to avail themselves of the exception provided for in sub-
paragraph 1 must be a matter for the carrier actually operating the
flight. In the absence of information from the operating carrier suffi-
cient to identify the two carriers to be designated, a system vendor
must designate the carriers on a non-discriminatory basis.
11. A principal display must, wherever practicable, include connecting flights
on scheduled services which are operated by participating carriers and are
constructed by using aminimum number of nine connecting points. A sys-
(1) All references to flights in this Annex are in accordance with Article 21b(6).
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tem vendor must accept a request by a participating carrier to include an
indirect service, unless the routing is in excess of 130 % of the great circle
distance between the two airports or unless that would lead to the exclu-
sion of services with ashorter ela psed journey time. Connecting points
with routings in excess of 130 % of that great circle distance need not be
used.
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ANNEX II
Use of distribution facilities by subscribers
1. A subscriber must keep accurate records covering all CRS reservation trans-
actions. Those records must include flight numbers, reservations booking
designators, date of travel, departure and arrival times, status of segments,
names and initials of passengers with their contact addresses and/or tele-
phone numbers and ticketing status. When booking or cancelling space, the
subscriber must ensure that the reservation designator being used corre-sponds to the fare paid by the passenger.
2. A subscriber should not deliberately make duplicate reservations for the
same passenger. Where confirmed space is not available on the customer's
choice, the passenger may be wait-listed on that flight (if wait-list is avail-
able) and confirmed on an alternative flight.
3. When a passenger cancels a reservation, the subscriber must immediately
release that space.
4. When a passenger changes an itinerary, the subscriber must ensure that all
space and supplementary services are cancelled when the new reservations
are made.
5. A subscriber must, where practicable, request or process all reservations for
a specific itinerary and all subsequent changes through the same CRS.
6. No subscriber may request or sell airline space unless requested to do so by
aconsumer.
7. A subscriber must ensure that a ticket is issued in accordance with the
reservation status of each segment and in accordance with the applicable
time limit. A subscriber must not issue aticket indica ting adefinite reserva -
tion and a particular flight unless confirmation of that reservation has been
received.