P7_TA(2012)0495

Allocation of slots at European Union airports ***I

European Parliament legislative resolution of 12 December 2012 on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on common rules for the allocation of slots at EU airports (recast) (COM(2011)0827 — C7-0458/2011 — 2011/0391(COD))

(Ordinary legislative procedure — recast)

(2015/C 434/43)

The European Parliament,

having regard to Article 294(2) and Article 100(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, pursuant to which the Commission submitted the proposal to Parliament (C7-0458/2011),

having regard to Article 294(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions of 18 July 2012 (2) ,

having regard to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 28 November 2001 on a more structured use of the recasting technique for legal acts (3) ,

having regard to the letter of 9 May 2012 from the Committee on Legal Affairs to the Committee on Transport and Tourism in accordance with Rule 87(3) of its Rules of Procedure,

whereas, according to the Consultative Working Party of the legal services of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission, the proposal in question does not include any substantive amendments other than those identified as such in the proposal and whereas, as regards the codification of the unchanged provisions of the earlier acts together with those amendments, the proposal contains a straightforward codification of the existing texts, without any change in their substance,

Adopts its position at first reading hereinafter set out, taking into account the recommendations of the Consultative Working Party of the legal services of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission;

Calls on the Commission to refer the matter to Parliament again if it intends to amend its proposal substantially or replace it with another text;

Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the national parliaments.

(1) OJ C 181, 21.6.2012, p. 173.

(2) OJ C 277, 13.9.2012, p. 110.

(3) OJ C 77, 28.3.2002, p. 1.

P7_TC1-COD(2011)0391

Position of the European Parliament adopted at first reading on 12 December 2012 with a view to the adoption of Regulation (EU) No …/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council on common rules for the allocation of slots at European Union airports (Recast)

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 100(2) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions (2),

Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure (3),

Whereas:

(1) Council Regulation (EEC) No 95/93 of 18 January 1993 on common rules for the allocation of slots at Community airports (4) has been substantially amended several times (5). Since further amendments are to be made, it should be recast in the interests of clarity.

(2) Regulation (EEC) No 95/93 made a decisive contribution to the achievement of the internal market in aviation and to the development of relations between the European Union, its Member States and third countries, by ensuring access to the Union's congested airports on the basis of neutral, transparent and non-discriminatory rules.

(3) However, there is a growing imbalance between the expansion of the air transport system in Europe and the availability of certain airport infrastructures to meet that demand. There is, as a result, an increasing number of congested airports in the Union.

(4) The slot allocation system established in 1993 does not ensure the optimum allocation and use of slots and thus of airport capacity. In the context of growing airport congestion and the limited development of major new airport infrastructure, the slots are a rare resource. Access to such resources is of crucial importance for the provision of air transport services and for the maintenance of effective competition. To this end, the allocation and use of slots could be made more effective by introducing market slot exchange mechanisms, by ensuring that the unused slots are made available to interested operators as soon as possible and in a transparent manner, and by reinforcing the underlying principles of the system with regard to the allocation, management and use of the slots. At the same time, although the historical slots meet the need for stability in schedules for the airlines, during the future assessment of the application of this Regulation, a gradual introduction of other market mechanisms could be envisaged, such as withdrawing and auctioning historical slots. In addition, it is important that access to hub airports from regional airports be maintained where such routes are essential to the economy of the region in question. Therefore , concerns regarding efficient allocation of slots must continue to be balanced against the need to protect the external benefits of air transport services and in particular the value that they create for European regions. [Am. 1]

(5) It is therefore necessary to modify the slot allocation system at the Union's airports.

(5a) The relevant theory and case-law have not yet advanced sufficiently to produce an exhaustive legal definition of the term ‘airport slots’. As of now it is expedient to work on the assumption that the use of slots in the public interest — hence not in any strict sense a public good — may serve as a guideline for a legal definition of the term. It is therefore appropriate to formulate a definition of slots which establishes that they may become the subject of rights and governs their allocation. [Am. 79]

(6) The allocation of slots at congested airports should must continue to be based on neutral, transparent and non-discriminatory rules. [Am. 2]

(7) The current slot allocation system should be adapted to the development of the market mechanisms used in certain airports for transferring or exchanging slots. In its Communication of 30 April 2008 on the application of Regulation (EEC) No 95/93 on common rules for the allocation of slots at Community airports, the Commission undertook to make an appropriate proposal if it became apparent that revision of the existing legislation was required for competition or other reasons.

(8) Experience has shown that secondary trading, that is the exchange of slots for financial or other compensation, does not benefit from a uniform and consistent legislative framework, including guarantees of transparency and competitive safeguards. It is therefore necessary to regulate secondary trading in slots in the European Union.

(9) Transparency of information is an essential element for ensuring an objective procedure for slot allocation. It is necessary to enhance this transparency and take account of technological progress.

(10) Provisions to allow new entrants into the Union market should be laid down. Experience shows that the current definition of the term ‘new entrant’ has not succeeded in promoting competition to the full and that it should therefore be duly amended. Furthermore, it is necessary to combat abuses by limiting the possibility for an operator to attain the status of a new entrant if, together with its parent company, its own subsidiaries or subsidiaries of its parent company, it holds more than 10 % of the total number of slots allocated on the day in question in a given airport. Likewise, an air carrier should not be regarded as a new entrant if it has transferred slots obtained by it as a new entrant in order to re-acquire that status.

(11) The priority given to an air carrier requesting a series of slots in an airport for a non-stop scheduled passenger service between that airport and a regional airport should be abolished, since this situation is already covered by the priority given to an air carrier requesting the allocation of a series of slots for a regular non-stop scheduled passenger service between two Union airports. [Am. 3]

(12) It is also necessary to avoid situations where, owing to a lack of available slots, the benefits of liberalisation are unevenly spread and competition is distorted. [Am. 4]

(12a) Non-scheduled air transportation contributes to regional cohesion and competitiveness. Where air carriers have regularly used slots for such transportation at an airport falling within the scope of this Regulation, even where those slots do not always involve the same routes, priority should be given to requests for continued usage of such slots. [Am. 5]

(13) The progress made in implementing the Single European Sky has a major impact on the slot allocation process. The imposition of performance plans, which make the airports, the air navigation service providers and airspace users subject to performance improvement and monitoring measures, and the network management function, based on the establishment of a European network of routes and a central air traffic management, means it is necessary to update the slot allocation rules. It is therefore necessary to create an adequate framework allowing the network manager, the performance rewiew body and the national supervisory authorities to participate in the procedure of setting the airport capacity and coordination parameters. A new category of airports of importance to this network should also be created with a view to allowing the network to react better in crisis situations. [Am. 80]

(14) The In order to optimise available airport capacity, it is necessary to adopt procedures to ensure that flight plans and the slots should be are better matched to better exploit airport capacity and improve flight punctuality. [Am. 7]

(15) The Member State responsible for the schedules facilitated or coordinated airport should ensure the appointment of a schedules facilitator or a coordinator whose neutrality should be unquestioned. To this end, the coordinators' role and that of the schedules facilitators should be enhanced. Provision should be made for the legal, organisational, decision-making and financial independence of the coordinators with regard to stakeholders, the Member State and bodies subordinate to that State. To prevent situations in which the coordinator's activity and that of the schedules facilitator suffer from a lack of financial, technical or human resources or expertise, Member States should ensure that the coordinators have all the resources needed for their work. [Am. 8]

(16) Additional obligations should be introduced for air carriers with regard to sending information to the coordinators and schedules facilitators . Provision should be made for additional penalties for omitting information or sending false or misleading information. For other airports belonging to the network with no specific designation , the air carriers should have the obligation to communicate their flight intentions or other relevant information requested by the coordinator or schedules facilitator. [Am. 9]

(17) The Union should facilitate cooperation between the coordinators and schedules facilitators to allow them to exchange best practices with a view to the establishment in due course of a European single coordinator at European level, taking account of progress achieved in the establishment of a Single European Sky . [Am. 10]

(18) An airport may be designated as coordinated provided that principles of transparency, neutrality and non-discrimination are followed and subject to the conditions laid down in this Regulation.

(19) The decision to coordinate an airport should be taken by the Member State responsible for that airport on the basis of objective criteria. Given the progress made in implementing the Single European Sky , functional airspace blocks and the network manager function, it is useful to reconcile the methods for evaluating airport capacity in order to ensure better functioning of the European air traffic management network. [Am. 11]

(20) Provision must be made for a procedure by which a Member State decides to modify the designation of a coordinated airport or a schedules facilitated airport to make it a schedules facilitated airport or an airport with no designation status, respectively.

(21) The period of validity for a series of slots should be limited to the schedule planning period for which the series is granted. The priority for allocating a series of slots, even historical slots, should come exclusively from the allocation or confirmation by the coordinator. Priority for allocating a series of historical slots should be accorded by the coordinator on the basis of the previously correct use thereof. [Am. 81]

(22) It is necessary to retain special provisions, under limited circumstances, for the maintenance of adequate domestic air services to regions of the Member State or Member States concerned when a public service obligation has been imposed.

(22a) The entry into force of this Regulation should be without prejudice to connections between regional airports and major hubs. It would therefore be useful to take the appropriate measures to ensure that remote, outermost and island airports are linked to major European hubs and hence to the worldwide air traffic network. [Am. 13]

(23) Since the environmental aspects may be taken into account in the coordination parameters and regional connectivity can also be fully ensured in the context of the public service obligations, experience has not demonstrated the usefulness of local rules. Furthermore, it cannot be excluded that such rules lead to discrimination in the allocation of slots. Consequently, the option of resorting to local rules should be restricted. All the technical, operational, performance and environmental constraints that should be applied by the coordinators or the facilitators should be defined in the coordination parameters. Recourse to local rules would also be reduced to monitoring the use of slots and the possibility of reducing the length of the series of slots in the cases provided for by this Regulation. With a view to promoting better use of airport capacity, two basic principles in slot allocation should be reinforced, namely the definition of a series of slots and the calculation of historical slots. At the same time, the flexibility given to air carriers should be better regulated with a view to preventing distortions in the application of this Regulation in the Member States. Therefore, better use of airport capacity should be encouraged. Connections between rail and airports as well as the integration of rail and air tickets should be supported. [Am. 91]

(24) To allow air carriers to adapt to imperative situations of urgency, such as a marked decline in traffic or an economic crisis that severely affects the activity of air carriers, affecting a lager larger part of the scheduling period, the Commission should be allowed to adopt urgent measures to ensure the consistency of measures to be taken at coordinated airports. Those measures will allow air carriers to retain priority for the in the allocation of of the same series for the following scheduling period even if the 85 % 80 % rate has not been met. [Am. 14]

(24a) This Regulation should allow for the flexibility requirements of business aviation and of charter flights so as to enable non-scheduled flights to be operated, especially in view of the fact that the operators concerned cannot build up a slot portfolio based on historical rights. [Am. 15]

(25) The role of the coordination committee should be strengthened in two ways. On the one hand, the network manager, the performance review body and the national supervisory authority should be invited to follow the committee's meetings. On the other hand, the coordination committee's tasks could include making suggestions or giving advice to the coordinator and/or Member State on any issue concerning the airport capacity, in particular in relation to the implementation of the Single European Sky and the working of the European Air Traffic Management Network. The committee should also be able to provide the performance review body and the national supervisory authority with opinions concerning the link between the coordination parameters and the key performance indicators proposed to the air navigation service providers. [Am. 16]

(26) Experience shows that a significant number of slots are returned to the pool too late to be reallocated effectively. Airport managing bodies should be encouraged to use the airport charges system to discourage this type of behaviour financial charging schemes and to significantly strengthen the current penalty system in order to dissuade air carriers from engaging in such practices . Despite having recourse to this mechanism those mechanisms , airport managing bodies should not, however, discourage air carriers from entering the market or developing services. [Am. 17]

(26a) In order to increase airport capacity, this Regulation should cover the possibility of Member States being able to use the proceeds of the sale of time slots following secondary trading for the purpose of optimising air traffic and developing new infrastructure. [Am. 18]

(27) It is desirable that third countries offer Union carriers equivalent treatment.

(28) The application of the provisions of this Regulation should must be without prejudice to the competition rules of the Treaty, in particular Articles 101, 102 and 106. [Am. 19]

(29) The Ministerial Statement on Gibraltar Airport, agreed in Cordoba on 18 September 2006, during the first Ministerial meeting of the Forum of Dialogue on Gibraltar, will replace the Joint Declaration on the Airport made in London on 2 December 1987, and full compliance with it will be deemed to constitute compliance with the 1987 Declaration.

(30) The power to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be delegated to the Commission, in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, in order to lay down the methods for developing a study on capacity and demand. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level. [Am. 20]

(31) The Commission, when preparing and drawing up delegated acts, should ensure a simultaneous, timely and appropriate transmission of relevant documents to the European Parliament and Council.

(32) In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Regulation, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control, by Member States, of the Commission's exercise of implementing powers (6).

(33) The examination procedure should be used for the adoption of implementing instruments concerning the creation of a European coordinator, the template for the coordinator and schedules facilitator's annual activity report and the decision that one or more Member States should take measures with a view to remedying a third country's discriminatory behaviour with regard to the Union's air carriers. [Am. 82]

(34) The Commission should adopt implementing acts that apply immediately, in accordance with the examination procedure, in duly justified cases linked to the need to ensure the continuation of historical slots, when required on imperative grounds of urgency.

(35) This Regulation should be reviewed after a fixed period of operation to assess its functioning,

(35a) After carrying out consultations, including at expert level, the Commission should draw up a study on capacity and demand, to be submitted to the European Parliament and the Council within a year of the entry into force of this Regulation. [Am. 21]

(36) Since the objective of the action, namely more homogeneous application of Union legislation on slots, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States because of the international character of air transport, and can therefore be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

SCOPE AND DEFINITIONS

Article 1

Scope

1. This Regulation shall apply to European Union airports.

2. The application of this Regulation to the airport of Gibraltar is understood to be without prejudice to the respective legal positions of the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland with regard to the dispute over sovereignty over the territory in which the airport is situated.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purpose of this Regulation:

(1) ‘slot’ shall mean the permission given by a coordinator to an air carrier in accordance with this Regulation to use the full range of airport infrastructure necessary to operate an air service at a coordinated airport on a specific date dates and time at specific times for the purpose of landing or take-off as allocated by a coordinator in accordance with this Regulation; [Am. 22]

(2) ‘new entrant’ shall mean an air carrier requesting, as part of a series of slots, a slot at an airport on any day, where, if the carrier's request were accepted, it would in total hold fewer than five slots at that airport on that day. b) an air carrier requesting a series of slots for a non-stop scheduled passenger service between two European Union airports, where at most two other air carriers operate the same non-stop scheduled service between those airports on that day, and where, if the air carrier's request were accepted, the air carrier would nonetheless hold fewer than nine slots at that airport on that day for that non-stop service. [Am. 23] An air carrier which, together with its parent company, its own subsidiaries or the subsidiaries of its parent company, holds more than 10 % of the total slots allocated on the day in question at a particular airport, shall not be considered as a new entrant at that airport; An air carrier which transferred, within the meaning of Article 13, slots obtained as a new entrant to another air carrier in the same airport in order to be able to reacquire the status of a new entrant at that airport shall not be regarded as having that status;

(3) ‘scheduling period’ shall mean either the summer or winter season as used in the schedules of air carriers, in accordance with the rules and guidelines established by the air transport section on a global basis;

(4) ‘Union air carrier’ shall mean an air carrier with a currently valid operating licence issued by a Member State in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 September 2008 on common rules for the operation of air services in the Community (7);

(5) ‘air carrier’ shall mean an air transport undertaking holding a currently valid operating licence or equivalent at the latest on 31 January for the following summer season or on 31 August for the following winter season; for the purposes of Articles 5, 9, 10, 11 and 13, the definition of ‘air carrier’ shall also include business aviation operators; for the purposes of Articles 7, 17 and 18; the definition of ‘air carrier’ shall also include all civil aircraft operators;

(6) ‘group of air carriers’ shall mean two or more air carriers which together perform joint operations, franchise operations or code-sharing , or a consortium in the case of non-scheduled operators, for the purpose of operating utilising a specific air service slot ; [Am. 24]

(7) ‘air navigation service provider’ shall mean any air navigation service provider within the meaning of point (5) of Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 549/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 March 2004 laying down the framework for the creation of the single European sky (the Framework Regulation) (8);

(8) ‘groundhandling service provider’ shall mean any provider of groundhandling services within the meaning of Article […] of Regulation (EU) No […] of the European Parliament and of the Council of […] (on groundhandling services) (9); or any airport user within the meaning of Article […] of Regulation (EU) No […] (on groundhandling services) which self-handles within the meaning of Article […] of Regulation (EU) No […] (on groundhandling services);

9) ‘airport belonging to the network’ shall mean an airport which is not confronted with congestion problems but which, in the event of a sudden and significant increase in traffic or in the event of a sudden and significant reduction of its capacity, could have an impact on the functioning of the European air-traffic management network (hereinafter ‘the network’), in accordance with Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 551/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council (10) ; [Am. 25]

(10) ‘schedules facilitated airport’ shall mean an airport where there is potential for congestion at certain periods of the day, week or year which is amenable to resolution by voluntary cooperation between air carriers and where a schedules facilitator has been appointed to facilitate the operations of air carriers operating services or intending to operate services at that airport;

(11) ‘coordinated airport’ shall mean any airport where, in order to land or take off, it is necessary for an air carrier or any other aircraft operator to have been allocated a slot by a coordinator, with the exception of State flights, emergency landings and humanitarian flights;

(12) ‘managing body of an airport’ shall mean the body which, in conjunction with other activities or otherwise, has the task under national laws or regulations of administering and managing the airport facilities and coordinating and controlling the activities of the various operators present at the airport;

(13) ‘series of slots’ shall mean at least 15 slots for a summer scheduling period and 10 five slots for a winter scheduling period which have been requested for the same time on the same day of the week for consecutive weeks regularly in the same scheduling period and allocated by the coordinator on that basis or, if that is not possible, allocated at approximately the same time , unless agreed otherwise through a local rule under the conditions referred to in Article 9(8) ; [Am. 26]

(14) ‘business aviation’ shall mean that sector of general aviation which concerns the operation or use of aircraft by companies for the carriage of passengers or goods as an aid to the conduct of their business, where the aircraft are flown for purposes generally considered not for public hire and are piloted by individuals having, at a minimum, a valid commercial pilot licence with an instrument rating;

(15) ‘coordination parameters’ shall mean the expression, in operational terms, of all the capacity available for slot allocation at an airport during each scheduling period and the operational rules on capacity use, reflecting all technical, operational and environmental factors that affect the performance of the airport infrastructure and its different sub-systems;

(16) ‘flight plan’ shall mean specific information provided to air traffic services units, relative to an intended flight or portion of a flight of an aircraft;

(17) ‘scheduled air services’ shall mean a series of flights with the characteristics defined in point (16) of Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008;

(18) ‘programmed non-scheduled air service’ shall mean a series of flights flight which do does not meet all the conditions of Article 2(16) of Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008, but which operate so regularly or frequently that they constitute a recognisably systematic series; [Am. 75]

(19) ‘network manager’ shall mean the air traffic management (ATM) body established under Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 551/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 March 2004 on the organisation and use of the airspace in the single European sky (the Airspace Regulation) (11) , which body shall allow optimum use of airspace and ensure that airspace users can operate preferred trajectories, while allowing maximum access to airspace and air navigation services ; [Am. 28]

(20) ‘performance review body’ shall mean the body established under Article 11 of Regulation (EC) No 549/2004;

(21) ‘national supervisory authority’ shall mean the body or bodies nominated or established by Member States as their national authority pursuant to Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 549/2004.

DESIGNATION OF AIRPORTS

Article 3

Conditions for airport coordination or schedules facilitation

1. Member States shall be under no obligation to designate any airport as schedules facilitated or coordinated save in accordance with the provisions of this Article.

Member States shall not designate an airport as coordinated save in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 3.

2. A Member State may, however, provide for any airport to be designated as a schedules facilitated airport, provided that principles of transparency, neutrality and non-discrimination are met.

3. The Member State responsible shall ensure that a thorough capacity and demand analysis is carried out at an airport with no designation status, at an airport belonging to the European air traffic management network (hereinafter ‘the network’) or at a schedules facilitated airport by the managing body of that airport or by any other competent body when that Member State considers it necessary, or within six months:

(i) following a written request from air carriers representing more than half of the operations at an airport or from the managing body of the airport when either considers that capacity is insufficient for actual or planned operations at certain periods; or

(ii) upon request from the Commission, in particular where new entrants encounter serious problems in securing landing and take off possibilities at the airport in question, or when the network manager considers it necessary to ensure that the airport's operational plan is consistent with the network's operational plan, in accordance with Article 6(7) of Commission Regulation (EU) No 677/2011 of 7 July 2011 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of air traffic management (ATM) network functions (12).

That analysis , based on commonly agreed and recognised methods, shall determine any shortfall in capacity, taking into account environmental constraints at the airport in question. The analysis shall consider the possibilities of overcoming such shortfall through new or modified infrastructure, operational changes, or any other change, and the time frame envisaged to resolve the problems.

The analysis shall be based on methods determined by a Commission delegated act, in accordance with Article 15 of this Regulation. The methods shall take account of the requirements of the network operational plan, as required by Annex V to Regulation (EU) No 677/2011.

The analysis shall be updated if paragraph 6 has been invoked, when there are changes at the airport influencing significantly its capacity and capacity usage or at the request of the coordination committee, the Member State or the Commission. Both the analysis and the method used shall be made available to the parties that requested the analysis and, upon request, to other interested parties. The analysis shall be communicated to the Commission at the same time.

4. On the basis of the analysis, the Member State shall consult on the capacity situation at the airport with the managing body of the airport, the air carriers using the airport regularly, their representative organisations, representatives of general aviation using the airport regularly and air traffic control authorities.

5. The Commission can ask the network manager to deliver an opinion on how the capacity is set in relation to the network operating needs. The Commission can make recommendations. The Member State shall give reasons for any decision that does not follow these recommendations. The decision shall be communicated to the Commission.

6. Where capacity problems occur for at least one scheduling period, the Member State shall ensure that the airport is designated as coordinated for the relevant periods only if:

(a) the shortfall is of such a serious nature that significant delays cannot be avoided at the airport, and

(b) there are no possibilities of resolving these problems in the short term.

7. By way of derogation from point (b) of paragraph 6, Member States may, in exceptional circumstances, designate as coordinated the airports affected for the appropriate period, which can be less than a scheduling period.

By way of derogation from paragraphs 3, 4, 5 and 6, Member States may, in emergency situations, designate as coordinated the airports affected for the appropriate period.

8. If the updated analysis on capacity and demand in a coordinated or schedules facilitated airport shows that the airport in question has sufficient capacity to meet actual or planned operations, the Member State, after consulting the bodies mentioned in paragraph 4, may change its designation to a schedules facilitated airport or an airport with no designation status, respectively.

9. At the request of the Commission, which may act on its own initiative or on the initiative of the network manager, and after consulting the bodies mentioned in paragraph 4, the Member State shall ensure that an airport with no designation status is designated as belonging to the network. The decision to that effect shall be communicated to the Commission. If the Commission considers that the airport is no longer of importance for the network, the Member State, after consulting the bodies mentioned in paragraph 4, shall change the designation of the airport to that of an airport with no designation status.

10. If a decision is taken under paragraphs 6, 8 or 9 or 8 , the Member State shall communicate it to the bodies mentioned in paragraph 4 no later than 1 April for the winter scheduling period and no later than 1 September for the summer scheduling period. [Am. 29]

Article 4

Coordination parameters

1. At a coordinated or schedules facilitated airport, the Member State responsible shall ensure the determination of the coordination parameters twice yearly, while taking account of all relevant technical, operational, performance and environmental constraints as well as any changes thereto. These constraints shall be notified to the Commission. The Commission, if necessary with the aid of the network manager, shall examine the constraints and deliver recommendations which the Member State must take into account before determining the coordination parameters. [Am. 30]

This exercise shall be based on an objective analysis of the possibilities of accommodating the air traffic, taking into account the different types of traffic at the airport, the airspace congestion likely to occur during the coordination period and the capacity situation.

2. The determination of the parameters and the methodology used as well as any changes thereto shall be discussed in detail within the coordination committee with a view to increasing the capacity and number of slots available for allocation, before a final decision on the coordination parameters is taken. All relevant documents shall be made available on request to interested parties.

3. The determination of the coordination parameters shall not affect the neutral and non-discriminatory character of the slot allocation. [Am. 31]

4. The parameters shall be communicated to the airport coordinator in good time before initial slot filing for the purpose of scheduling conferences.

5. For the purpose of the exercise referred to in paragraph 1, where the Member State does not do so, the coordinator shall define relevant coordination time intervals after consultation of the coordination committee and in conformity with the established capacity.

ORGANISATION OF COORDINATION, SCHEDULES FACILITATION AND DATA COLLECTION ACTIVITIES

Article 5

The schedules facilitator and the coordinator

1. The Member State responsible for an airport belonging to the network, a schedules facilitated or coordinated airport shall ensure the appointment of a qualified natural or legal person as schedules facilitator or airport coordinator, after consulting the air carriers using the airport regularly, their representative organisations and the managing body of the airport and the coordination committee, where such a committee exists. The same schedules facilitator or coordinator may be appointed for more than one airport. [Am. 32]

2. Member States shall encourage close cooperation between the coordinators and schedules facilitators to develop common projects at a European level. In order to further improve the system for the allocation of slots at European Union airports and in light of the progress of these made in the common projects, the progress made in implementing the Single European Sky and the results of the evaluation report mentioned in Article 21, the Commission shall adopt implementing delegated acts for creating a the post of European coordinator. The implementing delegated acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure procedures referred to in Article 16(2) Article 15 . The principles governing the coordinator's independence , including in financial terms and in terms of their essential functions and in organisational and decision-making terms, as referred to in paragraph 3 of this Article shall paragraph 3 of this Article apply mutatis mutandis to the European coordinator. The Commission shall appoint the European coordinator in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 16(2). [Am. 86]

3. The Member State responsible for a schedules facilitated or coordinated airport shall ensure that:

(a) at a schedules facilitated airport, the schedules facilitator acts in accordance with this Regulation in an independent, neutral, non-discriminatory and transparent manner;

(b) at a coordinated airport, the coordinator is independent in legal, organisational and decision-making terms of any single interested party, of the Member State and bodies under the jurisdiction of that State; this means that: (i) in legal terms, the coordinator's essential functions, which consist of allocating slots in an equal and non-discriminatory manner, shall be given to a natural or legal person who or which is not a service provider in the airport, an airline operating from the airport or the managing body of the airport in question; in order to prove that he/she/it does not share common interests with any such entities, the coordinator or schedules facilitator must submit an annual declaration of his/her/its financial interests; [Am. 33] (ii) in organisational and decision-making terms, the coordinator shall act autonomously in relation to the Member State, the airport managing body, service providers, and airlines operating from the airport in question; it shall not receive instructions from them or be obliged to report to them, with the exception of the Member State; it shall not be part of structures that are directly or indirectly responsible for their day-to-day management and have executive decision-making powers with regard to the assets required for its functioning. The Member States shall ensure that the coordinator's professional interests are taken into consideration in such a way as to allow the coordinator to operate in complete independence; (iia) the composition of the coordinator's board or supervisory body shall also be independent of the direct interests of the airport managing body, the airline users of that airport and any other entity representing a user or service provider. This shall not, however preclude representatives of such entities from being members of a board or supervisory body, provided that voting rights are balanced; [Am. 34] (iib) to that end, the coordinator or schedules facilitator, whether as a natural or legal person, must not have been employed by, or worked regularly with, the airport managing body or a service provider or airline operating at or from the airport in question during the two years preceding his/her/its appointment and during the two years from the cessation of his/her/its duties as a coordinator or schedules facilitator; [Am. 35]

(c) the system of financing the coordinator's activities and those of the schedules facilitator is such as to guarantee the coordinator's independent status; [Am. 36]

(d) the coordinator acts in accordance with this Regulation in a neutral, non-discriminatory and transparent way.

The financing referred to under point (c) shall be provided by all the air carriers who operate in the coordinated and schedules facilitated airports, and by the those airports in such a way as to ensure that the financial burden is distributed equitably among all interested parties and that the financing does not largely depend on a sole interested party. A stakeholder consultation procedure, incorporating the possibility of an appeal, shall be launched by Member States in order to ensure transparent, non-discriminatory charging correlating to the service provided by the coordinator or schedules facilitator. Collection of the air carriers’ payments shall be the responsibility of the airports concerned, which shall pay those amounts to the coordinator or schedules facilitator . The Member States shall ensure that the adequate financial, human, technical and material resources and expertise required by are at the disposal of the coordinator for carrying and the schedules facilitator, such as to enable them to carry out his their duties are at its disposal at all times. [Am. 37]

4. The schedules facilitator and the coordinator shall participate in scheduling conferences of air carriers at international level in accordance with Union law.

5. The schedules facilitator shall advise air carriers and recommend alternative arrival and/or departure times when congestion is likely to occur.

6. The coordinator shall be the sole person responsible for the allocation of slots. He shall allocate the slots in accordance with the provisions of this Regulation and shall make provision so that, in an emergency, slots can also be allocated outside office hours.

7. The schedules facilitator shall monitor the conformity of air carriers' operations with the schedules recommended to them.

The coordinator shall monitor the conformity of air carriers' operations with the slots allocated to them. Those conformity checks shall be carried out in cooperation with the managing body of the airport and with, the air traffic control authorities and the network manager, and shall take into account the time and other relevant parameters relating to the airport concerned. [Am. 38]

All schedules facilitators and coordinators shall cooperate to detect inconsistencies in schedules and to encourage air carriers to resolve them.

Article 6

Transparency of coordination activities and schedules facilitation

1. At the end of each scheduling period On an annual basis , the coordinator or schedules facilitator shall submit to the Member States concerned and, to the Commission and, at their request, to all parties involved in their financing, an activity report describing the general slot allocation and/or schedules facilitation situation, examining, in particular, the application of Article 9(5) and Articles 13 and 18, as well as any complaints regarding the application of Articles 9 and 10 submitted to the coordination committee and the steps taken to resolve them. The report shall also contain aggregate and individual data on financial compensation derived from the sale of slots as referred to in Article 13 and the results of a survey conducted among the interested parties on the quality of services provided by the coordinator and the schedules facilitator .

The coordinator and the schedules facilitator shall furthermore submit to the Commission, to the Member States and to all parties involved in their financing a separate annual financial report indicating in detail revenue and expenditure relating to their activities.

2. The Commission may adopt a template for the activity report mentioned in paragraph 1. That implementing act shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 16(2).

3. The coordinator shall maintain , for each airport for which he/she/it has been made responsible, an up-to-date, freely-accessible electronic database freely accessible by all interested parties upon request, including the European Parliament , containing the following information:

(a) historical slots by airline, chronologically, for all air carriers at the airport;

(b) requested slots, by air carriers and chronologically, for all air carriers;

(c) all allocated slots, and outstanding slot requests, listed individually in chronological order, by air carriers, for all air carriers;

(d) remaining available slots with respect to each type of constraint taken into consideration in the coordination parameters. The database shall allow the air carriers and airports to verify the their availability of slots corresponding to their requests;

(e) slots transferred or exchanged, indicating the identity of the air carriers involved and whether the transfer or exchange was made for compensation of a financial or other nature. Aggregate data on financial compensation shall be published each year;

(f) full details of the coordination parameters.

This information shall be updated regularly. At the end of each season On an annual basis , the coordinator shall publish the activity report mentioned in paragraph 1.

4. The coordinator shall ensure that the data are stored and remain accessible for at least five consecutive equivalent scheduling periods.

5. Where relevant and generally accepted standards on the format of schedules information are available, the schedules facilitator, the coordinator and the air carriers shall apply them provided that they comply with Union law. [Am. 39]

Article 7

Information for schedules facilitators and coordinators

1. Air carriers operating or intending to operate at a schedules facilitated or coordinated airport belonging to the network shall submit to the schedules facilitator or coordinator , respectively, all relevant information requested by them. If that information changes, the air carriers shall inform the schedules facilitator and the coordinator as soon as possible at the earliest suitable and possible opportunity . All relevant information shall be provided in the format and within the time-limit specified by the schedules facilitator or coordinator. In particular, an air carrier shall inform the coordinator, at the time of the request for allocation, whether it would benefit from the status of new entrant, in accordance with point (2) of Article 2, in respect of requested slots and whether it is affiliated to other carriers operating at the same airport, in order to ensure that it cannot unjustifiably acquire that status . [Am. 40]

For all other airports with no particular designation status, the air carriers operating or intending to operate from that airport, the managing body of the airport, the groundhandling service providers and the air navigation service providers shall , when so requested by a coordinator or by the schedules facilitator, provide when requested by a coordinator within a reasonable time-limit any information in their its possession about the planned services of air carriers. [Am. 41]

On request from the network manager, the schedules facilitator and the coordinator shall send it all the information referred to in this paragraph.

2. Where an air carrier fails to provide the information referred to in paragraph 1, unless it can satisfactorily demonstrate that mitigating circumstances exist, or provides false or misleading information, the coordinator shall not take into consideration the slot request or requests by that air carrier to which the missing, false or misleading information relates. It shall withdraw the slot or series of slots if they were already allocated and/or recommend that penalties be imposed by the competent body under national law. The coordinator shall give offer that air carrier the opportunity to submit its observations. [Am. 42]

3. The schedules facilitator or the coordinator, the managing body of the airport and, the air traffic control authorities and the network manager shall exchange all the information they require for the exercise of their respective duties, including flight data and slots, in particular with a view to ensuring the application of Article 17. [Am. 43]

3a. The format and scope of the information referred to in this Article shall be laid down in an agreed worldwide industry standard. The information provided shall be used for the purposes of this Regulation only. [Am. 44]

Article 8

Coordination committee

1. At a coordinated airport, the Member State responsible shall ensure that a coordination committee is set up. The same coordination committee may be designated for more than one airport. Membership of this committee shall be open at least to the air carriers using the airport(s) in question regularly frequently during the current scheduling season and which have used it/them during the previous scheduling season and their representative organisations, the managing body of the airport concerned, the relevant air traffic control authorities, and the representatives of general aviation using the airport regularly, . In addition to those members, representatives of the network manager, the performance review body and the national supervisory authority of the Member State concerned may attend meetings of the coordination committee in an observer capacity only, and shall have no voting rights. The coordination committee may invite other bodies directly or indirectly involved in the slot allocation process to attend its meetings as observers. In order for such bodies to attend meetings, their credentials must be communicated to the coordination committee at least seven days before the meeting in question .

The tasks of the coordination committee shall be:

(a) to make proposals concerning or advise the coordinator and/or the Member State on: (i) the possibilities for increasing the capacity of the airport determined in accordance with Article 3 or for improving its usage; (ii) the coordination parameters to be determined in accordance with Article 4; (iii) the methods of monitoring the use of allocated slots; (iv) local guidelines as provided for in Article 9(8); (v) factors affecting the traffic conditions prevailing at the airport in question; (vi) serious problems encountered by new entrants, as provided for in Article 9(6); (vii) any issue concerning the airport capacity, in particular in relation to the implementation of the Single European Sky and the operation of the network; (viia) recommendations regarding the efficiency, cost and effectiveness of the coordination process;

(b) to provide the performance review body and the national supervisory authority with opinions concerning the link between the coordination parameters and the key performance indicators proposed to the air navigation service providers as defined by Commission Regulation (EU) No 691/2010 of 29 July 2010 laying down a performance scheme for air navigation services and network functions (13);

(c) to mediate between all parties concerned on complaints on the allocation of slots, as provided for in Article 19.

2. Member State representatives and the coordinator shall be invited to the meetings of the coordination committee as observers. At its request, the Commission may participate in those meetings.

3. The coordination committee shall draw up written rules of procedure covering, inter alia, participation, elections and decision-making , the frequency of meetings, and language(s) used.

Any member of the coordination committee may propose local guidelines as provided for in Article 9(8). At the request of the coordinator, The coordination committee shall discuss the suggested local guidelines. A report of the discussions in the coordination committee shall be submitted to the Member State concerned with an indication of the respective positions stated within the committee. That report shall also be communicated to the performance review body and the network manager. [Ams 45 and 87]

ALLOCATION OF SLOTS

Article 9

Slot pool

1. The coordinator shall set up a pool, which shall contain all the slots not allocated on the basis of Article 10(2) or (3) . All new slot capacity determined pursuant to Article 3(3) shall be placed in the pool. This procedure shall be without prejudice to connectivity between regional airports and hub airports. If such connectivity is undermined, Member States shall be permitted to intervene. [Am. 46]

2. Without prejudice to Article 10(2) and (3) of this Regulation and Article 19(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008, slots placed in the pool shall be distributed among applicant air carriers. 50 % of those slots shall first be allocated to new entrants unless requests by new entrants are less than 50 %. The preference given to new entrants shall be respected during the entire scheduling period. The coordinator shall treat the requests of new entrants and other carriers fairly, in accordance with the coordination periods of each scheduling day. [Am. 47]

Among requests from new entrants, preference shall be given to air carriers qualifying for new entrant status under point (2)(b) of Article 2.

3. Without prejudice to Article 10(2), in a situation where not all slot requests cannot can be accommodated to the satisfaction of the air carriers concerned, preference shall be given to all types of commercial air services and in particular to scheduled air services and programmed non-scheduled air services. In the case of competing requests within the same category of services, priority shall be given to year-round operations. [Am. 48]

4. A new entrant which has been offered a series of slots within one hour before or after the time requested but has not accepted that offer shall not retain its new entrant status for that series during the scheduling period.

5. In the case of services operated by a group of air carriers, only one of the participating air carriers can apply for the required slots. The air carrier operating such a service accepts shall accept responsibility for meeting the operating criteria required to benefit from the priority maintain the historical precedence referred to in Article 10(2). [Am. 49]

Slots allocated to one air carrier may be used by (an)other air carrier(s) belonging to a group of air carriers, provided that the designator code of the air carrier to whom the slots are allocated remains on the shared flight for coordination and monitoring purposes. Upon discontinuation of such operations, the slots so used will remain with the air carrier to whom they were initially allocated. Such operations shall be notified to the coordinator by the air carriers belonging to the group and may not begin prior to the express confirmation by the coordinator.

If a series of slots allocated to an air carrier is used by another air carrier otherwise than in accordance with the conditions laid down in this paragraph, the coordinator shall withdraw the series and return it to the pool after consulting the carriers concerned.

6. If serious problems continue to exist for new entrants, the Member State shall ensure that a meeting of the airport coordination committee is convened. The purpose of the meeting shall be to examine possibilities for remedying the situation. The Commission shall be invited to that meeting.

7. If a requested slot cannot be accommodated, the coordinator shall inform the requesting air carrier of the reasons therefor and shall indicate the nearest available alternative slot.

8. The coordinator shall also take into account additional guidelines established by the air transport industry Union-wide or world-wide or Union-wide as well as local guidelines proposed by the coordination committee and approved by the Member State or any other competent body responsible for the airport in question, provided that such guidelines do not affect the independent status of the coordinator, comply with Union law, and aim at improving the efficient use of airport capacity and have been notified in advance to and pre-approved by the Commission. The local guidelines may only concern the monitoring of the use of slots allocated or the amendment of the definition of a series of slots to reduce its length below 10 slots for the winter scheduling period or below 15 slots for the summer scheduling period, but under no circumstances below 5 slots. The reduction of the length of the series of slots applies only at airports where demand for air services is highly seasonable.

Local rules shall concern the allocation and monitoring of slots. Those rules may be applied only where it can be proved that an airport reaches an alarming level of congestion and that performance or throughput improvements can therefore be delivered through locally applied rules. Such local rules shall be transparent and non-discriminatory, and shall be agreed on in the coordination committee referred to in Article 8(3) . [Am. 88]

9. The coordinator shall, in addition to the planned slot allocation for the scheduling period, endeavour to accommodate single slot requests with short notice for any type of aviation, including general aviation. To that end, slots remaining in the pool after distribution among the applicant carriers and slots available at short notice may be used.

Article 10

Historical slots

-1. Airport slots are non-material assets of public utility whose use is subject to the conditions laid down in this Regulation. They are therefore assigned by airport coordinators so as to ensure maximum transparency, in the interests of Member States, passengers, airport managers and air carriers. [Am. 89]

1. Series of slots are shall be allocated from the slot pool by the coordinator with the utmost transparency and fairness to applicant carriers as permissions to use the airport infrastructure for the purpose of landing or take-off for the scheduling period for which they are requested, at the expiry of which they have to be returned to the slot pool set up pursuant to Article 9. [Am. 51]

2. Without prejudice to Articles 7, 12, 13 and 17, priority is to and 12, historical precedence shall be given to the air carrier concerned for the allocation of the same series during the following equivalent scheduling period, if that air carrier so requests within the time-limit mentioned in Article 7(1), where the following conditions are satisfied: [Am. 52]

(a) a series of slots has been used by that air carrier for the operation of scheduled and programmed non-scheduled air services, and [Am. 53]

(b) that air carrier can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the coordinator that the series of slots in question has been operated, as cleared by the coordinator, by that air carrier for at least 85 % 80 % of the time during the scheduling period for which it has been allocated. [Am. 54]

2a. Non-scheduled air transportation contributes to regional cohesion and competitiveness. Where air carriers have regularly used slots for such transportation at an airport falling within the scope of this Regulation, even where those slots do not always involve the same routes, priority shall be given to requests for continued usage of such slots. [Am. 55]

3. Re-timing of series of slots before the allocation of the remaining slots from the pool referred to in Article 9 to the other applicant air carriers shall be accepted only for operational reasons, such as changes in the type of aircraft used or route operated by the air carrier or, in the case of series of slots allocated to new entrants as defined in Article 2, if the slot timing for those requesting air carriers is better than the slot timing originally requested . It shall not take effect until expressly confirmed by the coordinator. [Am. 56]

4. Slots allocated to an air carrier before 31 January for the following summer season, or before 31 August for the following winter season, but which are returned to the coordinator for reallocation before those dates, shall not be taken into account for the purposes of the usage calculation provided that the remaining allocated slots constitute a series within the meaning of point (13) of Article 2.

Slots coinciding with public holidays shall be incorporated into the series for the following season without any need to justify their non-use. [Am. 57]

5. If the 85 % 80 % usage of the series of slots cannot be demonstrated, the priority historical precedence provided for under paragraph 2 shall not be given, unless the non-utilisation can be justified on the basis of any of the following reasons: [Am. 58]

(a) unforeseeable and unavoidable circumstances outside the air carrier's control leading to: (i) grounding of the aircraft type generally used for the air service in question; (ii) total or partial closure of an airport or airspace; (iii) serious disturbance of operations at the airports concerned, including those series of slots at other Union airports related to routes which have been affected by such disturbance, during a substantial part of the relevant scheduling period; [Am. 59]

(b) an interruption of air services due to action intended to affect those services, for example, in the event of a strike which makes it practically and/or technically impossible for the air carrier to carry out operations as planned;

(c) serious financial difficulties of the Union for an air carrier concerned, resulting in the granting of a temporary licence by the licensing authorities pending financial reorganisation of the air carrier in accordance with Article 9(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008; [Am. 60]

(d) judicial proceedings concerning the application of Article 12 of this Regulation for routes where public service obligations have been imposed in accordance with Article 16 of Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008 resulting in the temporary suspension of the operation of such routes.

A ban on operating in the Union adopted on the basis of Commission Regulation (EC) No 474/2006 of 22 March 2006 establishing the Community list of air carriers which are subject to an operating ban within the Community referred to in Chapter II of Regulation (EC) No 2111/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council (14) cannot be accepted as a justification for the non-use of the series of slots within the meaning of this paragraph.

6. At the request of a Member State or on its own initiative, the Commission shall examine the application of paragraph 5 by the coordinator to an airport falling within the scope of this Regulation.

It shall take a decision within two months of receipt of the request in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 16(2).

7. If the conditions set out in points (a) and (b) of paragraph (2) are not met, the Commission , in consultation with the various partners, may however decide that priority historical precedence for the allocation of the same series should be awarded to maintained for the air carriers for the following scheduling period, if this is justified on imperative grounds of urgency linked to exceptional events requiring coherence in the application of measures to be taken in those airports. Within one month of the Member State or airport concerned having so requested, the Commission shall adopt the necessary measures, which shall apply for not more than one scheduling period. It shall adopt such immediately applicable implementing acts in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 16(3). The measures adopted by the Commission may differ according to the Member State, airport or type of airline services concerned by the exceptional event in question. [Am. 61]

8. The priority for a series of slots referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article shall not give rise to any claims for compensation in respect of any limitation, restriction or elimination of that priority imposed under Union law, in particular in application of the rules of the Treaty relating to air transport.

Article 11

Slot reservation

1. The managing body of a coordinated airport may decide to use the airport charges system with the aim of dissuading air carriers from belatedly returning slots to the pool referred to in Article 9 and to hold them liable for having reserved airport infrastructure without using it. The following principles shall be respected:

(a) the procedure set out under Article 6 of Directive 2009/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (15) shall be observed before this decision is taken. The coordinator shall also be consulted. For coordinated airports not covered by Article 1(2) of Directive 2009/12/EC, the airport managing body shall consult the coordination committee and the coordinator;

(b) this decision shall not affect the non-discriminatory and transparent character of the slot allocation process and the system of airport charges;

(c) this decision shall not discourage air carriers from developing services or entering the market and it shall be limited to covering the costs incurred by the airport for reserving the airport capacity corresponding to the slots which remained unused;

(d) air carriers shall not be held liable for having reserved airport infrastructure without using it for slots allocated but returned to the pool before 31 January for the following summer scheduling period or before 31 August for the following winter scheduling period, for slots coinciding with public holidays and returned to the pool before the same dates and for slots for which the non-use can be justified on the basis of Article 10(5);

(e) this decision shall be communicated to the coordinator, the interested parties and the Commission at least six months before the start of the scheduling season concerned.

2. The coordinator shall send the airport managing body all the information necessary for the implementation of the decision referred to in the first paragraph. [Am. 62]

Article 12

Public service obligations

1. Where public service obligations have been imposed on a route in accordance with Article 16 of Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008, a Member State may shall reserve the slots required for the operations envisaged on that route at a coordinated airport. If the reserved slots on the route concerned are not used, they shall be made available to any other air carrier interested in operating the route in accordance with the public service obligations, subject to paragraph 2. If no other carrier is interested in operating the route and the Member State concerned does not issue a call for tenders under Article 16(10), Article 17(3) to (7), and Article 18(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008, the slots shall be either reserved for another route subject to public service obligations or returned to the pool. Slots shall be returned to the pool when they are not being used after the expiry of a maximum period of six months. When a route no longer meets the requirement for public service obligations slots reservation, the slots shall either be reserved for another route subject to public service obligations or shall remain with the air carrier which was using them if the requirement laid down in Article 10(2) of this Regulation has been met for the series concerned. [Am. 63]

2. The tender procedure established in Article 16(10), Article 17(3) to (7) and Article 18(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008 shall be applied for the use of the slots referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article if more than one Union air carrier is interested in serving the route and has not been able to obtain slots within one hour before or after the times requested from the coordinator.

SLOT MOBILITY

Article 13

Slot transfers and exchanges

1. Slots may be:

(a) transferred by an air carrier or between air carriers within a consortium from one route or type of service to another route or type of service operated by that same air carrier;

(b) transferred between two air carriers, with or without monetary or any other kind of compensation;

(c) exchanged, one for one, between air carriers, with or without monetary or any other kind of compensation. Slots that have been newly allocated to air carriers for a scheduling period shall not be transferred or exchanged for compensation or monetary gain until the end of at least one equivalent scheduling period.

2. The Member State coordinator shall establish a transparent framework to allow contact between air carriers interested in transferring or exchanging slots in conformity with Union law.

The transfers or exchanges referred to in paragraph 1 shall be notified to the coordinator and shall not take effect until expressly confirmed by the coordinator. The coordinator shall decline to confirm the transfers or exchanges if they are not in conformity with the requirements of this Regulation and if the coordinator is not satisfied that:

(a) airport operations would not be prejudiced, taking into account all technical, operational, performance and environmental constraints;

(aa) connectivity between regional and hub airports as well as access to non-coordinated airports would not be impaired;

(b) limitations imposed in accordance with Article 12 are respected;

(c) a transfer of slots does not fall within the scope of paragraph 3 of this Article.

For the transfers or exchanges referred to in points (b) and (c) of paragraph 1, the air carriers shall give the coordinator the details of any monetary or any other kind of compensation. The details regarding compensation for the transfers or exchanges are confidential shall be included in the activity report referred to in Article 6(1) and the coordinator shall divulge such details only to the Member State where the airport is situated or, the Commission, upon their request and all parties involved in the financing of the coordinator . The transfers or exchanges may shall not be subject to restrictive conditions intended to limit the possibility for the air carrier wishing to obtain the slots to enter into competition with the air carrier which transfers or exchanges the slots.

3. Slots allocated to a new entrant as defined in point (2) of Article 2 may shall not be transferred as provided for in point (b) of paragraph 1 of this Article for a period of two equivalent scheduling periods, except in the case of a legally authorised takeover of the activities of a bankrupt undertaking.

Slots allocated to a new entrant as defined in point (2)(b) of Article 2 may shall not be transferred to another route as provided for in point (a) of paragraph 1 of this Article for a period of two equivalent scheduling periods unless the new entrant would have been treated with the same priority on the new route as on the initial route.

Slots allocated to a new entrant as defined in point (2) of Article 2 may not be exchanged as provided for in point (c) of paragraph 1 of this Article for a period of two equivalent scheduling periods, except in order to improve the slot timings for those services in relation to the timings initially requested.

Member States may adopt measures to allocate a portion of the revenue generated from the slots trading to a fund in order to cover the costs of developing airport infrastructure and optimising related services. In the interests of complete transparency, the fund in question shall be determined and approved by an independent supervisory authority as referred to in Directive 2009/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on airport charges (16) . The fund must at all times be managed in such a way as to ensure that the principles of separate accounting are followed, so that the financial amounts to be allocated from the fund to each airport can be established. The revenues generated from the slot trading at one airport shall be reinvested at the same airport. [Am. 64]

Article 14

Competition provisions

This Regulation shall not affect the powers of public authorities to approve the transfer of slots between air carriers and to direct how these are allocated pursuant to national competition law or to Articles 101, 102 or 106 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union or Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 of 20 January 2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings (the EC Merger Regulation) (17).

DELEGATED ACTS AND COMMITTEE

Article 15

Exercise of the delegation

1. The power to adopt the delegated acts is conferred on the Commission subject to the conditions laid down in this Article.

2. The delegation of power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Articles 3(3) and 5(2)in fine shall be conferred on the Commission for an indeterminate a period of time five years from the entry into force of this Regulation. The Commission shall draw up a report in respect of the delegation of power no later than nine months before the end of the five-year period. The delegation of power shall be tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration, unless the European Parliament or the Council opposes such extension not later than three months before the end of each period. [Am. 65]

3. The delegation of powers referred to in Articles 3(3) and 5(2) may be revoked at any time by the European Parliament or by the Council. A decision of revocation shall put an end to the delegation of the powers specified in that decision. It shall take effect the day following the publication of the decision in the Official Journal of the European Union or at a later date specified therein. It shall not affect the validity of any delegated acts already in force.

4. As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the Council.

5. A delegated act adopted pursuant to Articles 3(3) and 5(2) shall enter into force only if no objection has been expressed either by the European Parliament or the Council within a period of two months of notification of that act to the European Parliament and the Council or if, before the expiry of that period, the European Parliament and the Council have both informed the Commission that they will not object. That period shall be extended by two months at the initiative of the European Parliament or of the Council.

Article 16

Committee procedure

1. The Commission shall be assisted by a committee. That committee is a committee within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011.

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply.

Where the opinion of the committee is to be obtained by written procedure, that procedure shall be terminated without result when, within the time-limit for delivering an opinion, the chair of the committee so decides or a majority of two thirds of the committee members so request.

3. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 8 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011, in conjunction with Article 5 thereof, shall apply.

4. The committee may also be consulted by the Commission on any other matter concerning the application of this Regulation.

IMPLEMENTING ACTS

Article 17

Consistency between the slots and the flight plans

1. When an air carrier submits a flight plan, it shall include a reference to the slot allocated. The network manager shall , after hearing the air carrier concerned and the airport managing body, may reject an air carrier's flight plan if the air carrier intends to land or take off at a coordinated airport, during the periods for which it is coordinated, without having a slot allocated by the coordinator. Business aviation operators shall not be deemed to have been allocated a slot if they would have to operate outside the time-band offered by the slot and if the delay is not attributable to air navigation services. [Ams 66, 77 and 90/rev]

2. The Member State concerned shall adopt the measures necessary for the exchange of information between the coordinator, the network manager, the air navigation service providers and the airport managing body.

Article 18

Enforcement

1. The coordinator shall withdraw the series of slots provisionally allocated to an air carrier in the process of establishing itself and place them in the pool on 31 January for the following summer season or on 31 August for the following winter season if the undertaking does not hold an operating licence or equivalent on that date or if it is not stated by the competent licensing authority that it is likely that an operating licence or equivalent will be issued before the relevant scheduling period commences. The competent licensing authorities shall give regular information updates to the coordinator and respond to its requests within a reasonable period of time.

2. Air carriers that repeatedly or and intentionally, or general aviation/business aviation companies that intentionally, operate air services at a time significantly different from the slot allocated as part of a series of slots or use slots in a significantly different way from that indicated at the time of allocation and thereby cause prejudice to airport or air traffic operations shall lose their priority historical precedence as referred to in Article 10(2). The coordinator may decide to withdraw from that air carrier the series of slots in question for the remainder of the scheduling period and place them in the pool after consulting the air carrier concerned and after issuing a single warning. If the air carrier then requests equivalent slots, the coordinator shall not be obliged to allocate them. [Am. 67]

The Member State concerned shall ensure that the coordinator establishes an efficient system for supervising the application of this paragraph.

3. Member States shall ensure that implement a system of effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties are available and are applied to deal with:

— repeated or intentional operation of air services air carriers or general aviation/business aviation companies that intentionally operate without a corresponding slot or at times significantly different from the allocated slots;

— the use of slots in a significantly different way from that indicated at the time of allocation;

— the return of slots after 31 January for the following summer season or after 31 August for the following winter season, or the retention of unused slots; the penalty should in any case take account of the possible use of the mechanism provided by Article 11;

— any refusal to communicate to the coordinator or the schedules facilitator the information specified under Articles 7 and 13 or the communication of false or misleading information.

The coordinator shall be duly informed of the application of penalties. Member States shall notify the Commission of the penalty system they have implemented under this paragraph. [Am. 68]

3a. Member States shall also ensure that the managing body of a coordinated airport establishes and applies effective, proportionate and dissuasive financial penalties to deal with the return of slots after the agreed Historical Baseline Dates for the following winter or summer season, respectively, or the retention of unused slots, with the aim of dissuading air carriers from belatedly returning slots to the pool referred to in Article 9, and to hold them liable for having reserved airport infrastructure without using it. In this regard, the following principles shall be respected:

(a) the procedure laid down in Article 6 of Directive 2009/12/EC shall be followed before penalties as provided for by this paragraph are imposed. The coordinator shall also be consulted. For coordinated airports not covered by Article 1(2) of Directive 2009/12/EC, the airport managing body shall consult the coordination committee and the coordinator;

(b) those penalties shall not affect the non-discriminatory and transparent character of the slot allocation process and the system of airport charges;

(c) those penalties shall not discourage air carriers from developing services or entering the market;

(d) air carriers shall not be held liable for having reserved airport infrastructure without using it: — for slots allocated but returned to the pool before 31 January for the following summer scheduling period or before 31 August for the following winter scheduling period, — for slots coinciding with public holidays and returned to the pool before 31 January for the following summer scheduling period or before 31 August for the following winter scheduling period; and — for slots for which the non-use can be justified on the basis of Article 10(5);

(e) those penalties shall be communicated to the coordinator, the interested parties and the Commission at least six months before the start of the scheduling season concerned;

(f) the system of penalties shall be revenue-neutral for the airport managing body and shall be aimed solely at increasing the efficiency of slot allocation.

The coordinator shall send the airport managing body all information necessary for the implementation of this paragraph.

Member States shall have these penalties in place not later than one year after the adoption of this Regulation. They shall duly inform the Commission, which shall assess the effectiveness of the penalties in question. When a potential infringement of paragraph 2 or 3 is identified, through slot monitoring or otherwise, the air carrier concerned shall be contacted in writing with details of the alleged infringement and a request for information about the air service or slot in question. Where a financial penalty is necessary, it shall apply to each individual failure by an air carrier to comply with paragraph 2 or 3, and shall have a pre-determined minimum value, to be set by the Member State concerned. Multiple infringements may give rise to the imposition of a series of financial penalties and may result in, for example, the doubling of the financial penalty for each further infringement. The coordinator shall be duly informed of the imposition of penalties. Decisions to impose financial penalties shall be published by the coordinator. [Am. 69]

4. Without prejudice to Article 10(5), if the 85 % 80 % usage rate as defined in Article 10(2) cannot be achieved by an air carrier, the coordinator may decide to withdraw from that air carrier the series of slots in question for the remainder of the scheduling period and place them in the pool after consulting the air carrier concerned. [Am. 70]

Without prejudice to Article 10(5), if after an allotted time corresponding to 15 % 20 % of the period of the series validity no slots of that series of slots have been used, the coordinator shall place the series of slots in question in the pool for the remainder of the scheduling period, after consulting the air carrier concerned. The coordinator may decide to withdraw the series of slots before the end of a period corresponding to 15 % 20 % of the period of validity of the series if the carrier does not show that it intends to use them. [Am. 71]

Article 19

Complaints and rights of appeal

1. Without prejudice to rights of appeal under national law, complaints regarding the application of Articles 7(2), 9, 10, 13, 17 and 18(1), (2) , (3) and (4) shall be submitted to the coordination committee. The committee shall, within a period of one month following submission of the complaint, consider the matter and if possible make proposals to the coordinator in an attempt to resolve the problem. If the complaint cannot be settled, the Member State responsible may, within a further two-month period, provide for mediation by an air carriers' or airports' representative organisation or other third party. [Am. 72]

2. Member States shall take appropriate measures, in accordance with national law, to protect coordinators with regard to claims for damages relating to their functions under this Regulation, save in cases of gross negligence or wilful misconduct.

Article 20

Relations with third countries

1. The Commission may, in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 16(2), decide that a Member State or Member States should take measures, including the withdrawal of slots, in respect of an air carrier or air carriers of a third country with a view to remedying the discriminatory behaviour of the third country concerned whenever it appears that, with respect to the allocation and use of slots at its airports, a third country:

(a) does not grant Union air carriers treatment comparable to that granted by this Regulation to air carriers from that country, or

(b) does not grant Union air carriers de facto national treatment, or

(c) grants air carriers from other third countries more favourable treatment than Union air carriers.

2. Member States shall inform the Commission of any serious difficulties encountered, in law or in fact, by Union air carriers in obtaining slots at airports in third countries.

FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 21

Report and cooperation

1. The Commission shall submit to the European Parliament and the Council a report on the operation of this Regulation at the latest four three years after its entry into force. The report shall address in particular the functioning of Articles 9, 10, 11 and 13. [Am. 73]

1a. The Commission shall monitor the secondary markets for slots based on the data received from coordinators and shall report on relevant trends, including those relating to regional and intra-Union connectivity, in its Annual Analysis of Air Transport Markets. [Am. 74]

2. Member States and the Commission shall cooperate in the application of this Regulation, particularly as regards the collection of information for the report mentioned in paragraph 1.

Article 22

Repeal

Regulation (EEC) No 95/93 is hereby repealed.

References to the repealed Regulation shall be construed as references to this Regulation and shall be read in accordance with the correlation table in Annex II.

Article 23

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the first day of the second scheduling period starting after its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. Done at For the European Parliament The President For the Council The President

(1) OJ C 181, 21.6.2012, p. 173.

(2) OJ C 277, 13.9.2012, p. 110.

(3) Position of the European Parliament of 12 December 2012.

(4) OJ L 14, 22.1.1993, p. 1.

(5) See Annex I.

(6) OJ L 55, 28.2.2011, p. 13.

(7) OJ L 293, 31.10.2008, p. 3.

(8) OJ L 96, 31.3.2004, p. 1.

(9) Number, date and publication reference of that regulation.

(10) OJ L 96, 31.3.2004, p. 20.

(11) OJ L 96, 31.3.2004, p. 20.

(12) OJ L 185, 15.7.2011, p. 1.

(13) OJ L 201, 3.8.2010, p. 1.

(14) OJ L 84, 23.3.2006, p. 14.

(15) OJ L 70, 14.3.2009, p. 11.

(16) OJ L 70, 14.3.2009, p. 11.

(17) OJ L 24, 29.1.2004, p. 1.