A4-0089/98

Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 2299/89 on a code of conduct for computerised reservation systems (CRSs) (COM(97)0246 - C4-0418/97 - 97/0148(SYN))

The proposal was approved with the following amendments:

(Amendment 1)

Recital 15

>Original text>

Whereas information or distribution facilities offered by carriers having joint venture or other contractual arrangements should not be subject to the code provisions;

>Text following EP vote>

Whereas information or distribution facilities offered by

one carrier or carriers having joint venture or other contractual arrangements should not be subject to the code provisions on condition that such a carrier or such arrangements between carriers can be clearly identified by the public;

(Amendment 2)

ARTICLE 1(1)

Article 1, introduction (Regulation (EEC) 2299/89)

>Original text>

This Regulation shall apply to computerised reservation systems to the extent that they contain air transport products, with or without the incorporation of rail transport products, when offered for use and/or used in the territory of the Community, irrespective of:

>Text following EP vote>

This Regulation shall apply to computerised reservation systems to the extent that they contain air transport products,

and to the extent that rail transport products are incorporated in the principal display, when offered for use and/or used in the territory of the Community, irrespective of:

(Amendment 3)

ARTICLE 1(2)(a)

Article 2(1) (Regulation (EEC) 2299/89)

>Original text>

(l) 'subscriber¨ means 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;

>Text following EP vote>

(l)

'subscriber¨ means a person, other than a consumer, or an undertaking, other than a participating carrier, using the distribution facilities for air and rail transport products of a CRS under contract or other financial arrangement with a system vendor;

(Amendment 4)

ARTICLE 1(2)(c)

Article 2(q) (Regulation (EEC) 2299/89)

>Original text>

(q) 'rail transport operator¨ means any private or public undertaking whose main business is to provide rail transport services to passengers.

>Text following EP vote>

(q)

'rail transport operator¨ means any private or public undertaking which provides rail transport services to passengers.

(Amendment 5)

ARTICLE 1(3)(a)

Article 3a(1)(b) (Regulation (EEC) 2299/89)

>Original text>

(b) The parent carrier shall not be obliged to accept any costs in this connection except for reproduction of the information to be provided and for accepted bookings. The booking fee payable to a CRS for an accepted booking made in accordance with this Article should not exceed the fee charged by the same CRS for the nearest equivalent transaction.

>Text following EP vote>

(b)

The parent carrier shall not be obliged to accept any costs in this connection except for reproduction of the information to be provided and for accepted bookings. The booking fee payable to a CRS for an accepted booking made in accordance with this Article should not exceed the fee charged by the same CRS to participating carriers for the same equivalent service.

(Amendment 6)

ARTICLE 1(3a) (new)

Article 4(1a) (new) (Regulation (EEC) 2299/89)

>Original text>

>Text following EP vote>

3a. Article 4(1a) is added:

'1a. Such principles shall apply for rail services in respect of data provided for inclusion in the principal display.'

(Amendment 7)

ARTICLE 1(4a) (new)

Article 6(1)(b) (Regulation (EEC) 2299/89)

>Original text>

>Text following EP vote>

4a. Article 6(1)(b) is replaced by the following:

'(b) any marketing, booking and sales data made available shall be on the basis that:

>Original text>

>Text following EP vote>

(i) such data are offered with equal timeless and on a non-discriminatory basis to all participating carriers, including parent carriers;

>Original text>

>Text following EP vote>

(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;

>Original text>

>Text following EP vote>

(iii) all requests for such data are treated with equal care and timeliness, subject to the transmission method selected by the individual carrier;

>Original text>

>Text following EP vote>

(iv) information shall on request be available to participating carriers and/or subscribers both globally and selectively with regard to the market in which they operate;

>Original text>

>Text following EP vote>

(v) a group of airlines and/or subscribers shall be entitled to purchase data for common processing.'

(Amendment 8)

ARTICLE 1(7)

Article 10(1)(a), 3rd and 4th subparagraphs, and (b), 1st subparagraph (Regulation (EEC) 2299/89)

>Original text>

The billing information shall be offered on magnetic media. The fee to be charged for the billing information provided on magnetic media shall not exceed the cost of the media itself together with transportation costs thereof.

>Text following EP vote>

The billing information may be offered on magnetic media. The fee to be charged for the billing information provided on magnetic media or any other chosen by the airline among the available possibilities shall not exceed the cost of the service.

>Original text>

A participating air carrier shall be offered the facility of being informed at the time that any booking/transaction is made for which a booking fee will be charged. Where a carrier elects to be so informed, it shall be offered the option to disallow such booking/transaction, unless the latter has already been accepted.

>Text following EP vote>

A participating air carrier shall be offered the facility of being informed at the time that any booking/transaction is made for which a booking fee will be charged. Where a carrier elects to be so informed, it shall be offered the option to disallow such booking/transaction, and it may not be charged for such bookings/transaction, unless the latter has already been accepted.

>Original text>

(b) Any fee for equipment rental or other service charged to a subscriber by a system vendor shall be non-discriminatory, reasonably structured and reasonably related to the cost of the service provided and used and shall, in particular, be the same for the same level of service. Productivity basedbenefits awarded to subscribers by system vendors in the form of discounts on rental charges or commission payments, are considered as distribution costs of the system vendor.

>Text following EP vote>

(b)

Any fee for equipment rental or other service charged to a subscriber by a system vendor shall be non-discriminatory, reasonably structured and reasonably related to the cost of the service provided and used and shall, in particular, be the same for the same level of service. Productivity based benefits awarded to subscribers by system vendors in the form of discounts on rental charges or commission payments, are considered as distribution costs of the system vendor and shall be based on ticketed segments.

>Original text>

>Text following EP vote>

When subject to Annex II (5) the system vendor is unaware of whether a ticket has been issued or not, then that system vendor shall be entitled to rely upon a notification of the ticket number from the subscriber.

(Amendment 9)

ARTICLE 1(9)

Article 21 (Regulation (EEC) 2299/89)

>Original text>

The provisions in Article 5, Article 9 (5) and the Annex to this Regulation shall not apply to a CRS used by an air carrier or a group of air carriers, which have a joint venture or other contractual arrangement, but excluding interline agreement, in its (their) own office(s) and sales counters clearly identified as such.

>Text following EP vote>

The provisions in Article 5, Article 9 (5) and the

Annexes to this Regulation shall not apply to a CRS used by an air carrier or a group of air carriers, which have a joint venture or other contractual arrangement, but excluding interline agreement:

>Original text>

>Text following EP vote>

(a) in its (their) own office(s) and sales counters clearly identified as such;

>Original text>

>Text following EP vote>

(b) to provide information and/or distribution facilities accessible through a public telecommunications network, clearly and continuously identifying the information provider(s) as such.

(Amendment 10)

ARTICLE 1(11)

Articles 21b and 21c (Regulation (EEC) 2299/89)

>Original text>

11. The following Articles 21b and 21c are added:

>Text following EP vote>

11.

The following Article 21b is added:

>Original text>

'Article 21b

A rail transport operator will be considered as a participating carrier for the purposes of the code on condition that it has an agreement with a system vendor for the distribution of its products through a CRS. Its services shall be treated in the same manner as air transport products and be incorporated into the principal display in accordance with the criteria set out in Annex I. to the code. All references to 'flights¨' in this Regulation shall be deemed also to include references to 'rail travel¨.

>Text following EP vote>

'Article 21b

A rail transport operator will be considered as a air carrier for the purposes of the code to the extent that it has an agreement with a system vendor for the distribution of its products through the principal display of a CRS, or its own reservation system is a CRS.Those products shall be treated in the same manner as air transport products and be incorporated into the principal display in accordance with the criteria set out in Annex I. to the code. In this context, all references to 'flights¨' in this Regulation shall be deemed also to include references to 'rail travel¨.'

>Original text>

Article 21c

>Text following EP vote>

Deleted

>Original text>

Where two or more carriers have a joint venture or other contractual arrangement, but excluding interline agreement, to provide information and/or distribution facilities accessible through a public telecommunications network, clearly identifying the arrangement as such, the information/distribution facilities will not be subject to the provisions of the code.'

>Text following EP vote>

(Amendment 11)

ANNEX

Annex I(1) and (2)(Regulation (EEC) 2299/89)

>Original text>

1. Ranking of flight options in a principal display, for the day or days requested, shall be in the following order unless requested in a different way by a consumer for an individual transaction:

>Text following EP vote>

1.

Ranking of flight options in a principal display, for the day or days requested, shall be in the following order unless requested in a different way by a consumer for an individual transaction:

>Original text>

(i) all non-stop direct flights between the city-pairs concerned;

(ii) all other flights.

>Text following EP vote>

(i) all non-stop direct flights between the city-pairs concerned;

(ii) other direct flights, not involving a change of aircraft, between the city-pairs concerned;

(iia) connecting flights.

>Original text>

>Text following EP vote>

Rail services will be considered non-stop direct services between the city-pairs concerned when its intermediate stops are not longer than 3 minutes and the total stopping time does not exceed 10 minutes.

>Original text>

2. A consumer shall at least be afforded the possibility of having, on request, a principal display ranked by departure or arrival time and/or elapsed journey time. Unless otherwise requested by a consumer, a principal display shall be ranked by departure time for group (i) and elapsed journey time for group (ii).

>Text following EP vote>

2.

A consumer shall at least be afforded the possibility of having, on request, a principal display ranked by departure or arrival time and/or elapsed journey time. Unless otherwise requested by a consumer, a principal display shall be ranked by departure time for group (i) and elapsed journey time for groups (ii) and (iii).

(Amendment 13)

ANNEX

Annex I(9), 2nd subparagraph (Regulation (EEC) 2299/89)

>Original text>

Nevertheless, where the flights are operated by the same carrier with the same flight number and where a carrier only requires only one flight coupon and one reservation, a CRS should only issue one coupon and charge for one reservation.

>Text following EP vote>

Deleted

(Amendment 14)

ANNEX

Annex I (10)(2) (Regulation (EEC) 2299/89)

>Original text>

2. Where more than two carriers are involved, designation of the two carriers entitled to avail themselves of the exception provided for in subparagraph 1 shall be a matter for the carrier actually operating the flight. In the absence of sufficient information from the operating carrier to identify the two carriers to be designated, a system vendor may designate the carriers on a non-discriminatory basis.

>Text following EP vote>

2.

Where more than two carriers are involved, designation of the two carriers entitled to avail themselves of the exception provided for in subparagraph 1 shall be a matter for the carrier actually operating the flight. In the absence of sufficient information from the operating carrier to identify the two carriers to be designated, a system vendor shall designate the carriers on a non-discriminatory basis.

(Amendment 12)

ANNEX

Annex II (2) (Regulation (EEC) 2299/89)

>Original text>

2. A subscriber shall not make duplicate reservations for the same passenger. In cases where confirmed space is not available on the customer's choice, the passenger may be waitlisted on that flight (if wait-list is available) and confirmed on an alternate flight.

>Text following EP vote>

2.

A subscriber shall not deliberately make duplicate reservations for the same passenger. In cases where confirmed space is not available on the customer's choice, the passenger may be waitlisted on that flight (if wait-list is available) and confirmed on an alternate flight.

Legislative resolution embodying Parliament's opinion on the proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 2299/89 on a code of conduct for computerised reservation systems (CRSs) (COM(97)0246 - C4-0418/97 - 97/0148(SYN))(Cooperation procedure: first reading)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the Commission proposal to the Council, COM(97)0246 - 97/0148(SYN) ((OJ C 267, 3.9.1997, p. 67.)),

- having been consulted by the Council pursuant to Articles 189c, 84(2) and 75 of the EC Treaty (C4-0418/97),

- having regard to Rule 58 of its Rules of Procedure,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Transport and Tourism (A4-0089/98),

1. Approves the Commission proposal, subject to Parliament's amendments;

2. Calls on the Commission to alter its proposal accordingly, pursuant to Article 189a(2) of the EC Treaty;

3. Calls on the Council to incorporate Parliament's amendments in the common position that it adopts in accordance with Article 189c(a) of the EC Treaty;

4. Instructs its President to forward this opinion to the Council and Commission.