COMMON POSITION (EC) No 36/2002

adopted by the Council on 25 March 2002

with a view to adopting Regulation (EC) No .../2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of ... amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 95/93 on common rules for the allocation of slots at Community airports

(2002/C 145 E/03)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 80(2) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission(1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee(2),

Following consultation of the Committee of the Regions,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty(3),

Whereas:

(1) The terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 in the United States and the political developments that followed those events seriously affected the air transport operations of air carriers and resulted in a significant drop in demand during the remainder of the summer 2001 and winter 2001/2002 scheduling seasons.

(2) In order to make sure that the non-utilisation of slots allocated for those seasons does not cause operators to lose their entitlement to those slots, it appears necessary to provide clearly and unambiguously that those scheduling seasons were adversely affected by the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.

(3) Council Regulation (EEC) No 95/93 of 18 January 1993 on common rules for the allocation of slots at Community airports(4) should therefore be accordingly amended,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

The following Article shall be inserted in Council Regulation (EEC) No 95/93: "Article 10a

The events of 11 September 2001

For the purposes of Article 10(3), coordinators shall accept that air carriers are entitled to the same series of slots during summer scheduling season 2002 and winter scheduling season 2002 to 2003 as had been allocated to them on the date of September 11 2001 for the summer scheduling season 2001 and the winter scheduling season 2001 to 2002 respectively."

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities,

It shall apply from ...

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 270 E, 25.9.2001, p. 131.

(2) Not yet published in the Official Journal.

(3) Opinion of the European Parliament of 6 February 2002 (not yet published in the Official Journal), Council Common Position of 25 March 2002 and Decision of the European Parliament of ... (not yet published in the Official Journal).

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

STATEMENT OF THE COUNCIL'S REASONS

1. On 15 January 2002 the Commission submitted to the Council its proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 95/93 of 18 January 1993 on common rules for the allocation of slots at Community airports. This proposal follows on from the events of 11 September 2001 and aims to allow air carriers to maintain, for the summer season 2002 and the winter season 2002 to 2003, the slots allocated to them on 11 September 2001. The proposal is based on Article 80(2) of the EC Treaty and falls under the co-decision procedure provided for in Article 251 of the Treaty.

The Economic and Social Committee delivered its opinion on 21 March 2002 and the Committee of the Regions dispensed with delivering its opinion on this matter.

The European Parliament delivered its opinion on 6 February 2002(1).

On 25 March 2002 the Council adopted its Common Position pursuant to Article 251(2) of the Treaty.

2. The Council fully agreed with the Commission's approach. However, whilst examining the proposal, it noted that it could not accept the amendment proposed by the European Parliament, which aimed to introduce an Article 10b. It also made the following two amendments which are not of major substantive significance:

- deletion of the first sentence of Article 10a of the proposal, given that reference is made to the terrorist attacks in the recitals,

- maintenance of the date of 11 September 2001 as the reference date for the scheduling of slots.

(1) 5961/02 CODEC 149 Aviation 17.