Council Regulation (EC) No 323/1999 of 8 February 1999 amending Regulation (EEC) No 2299/89 on a code of conduct for computer reservation systems (CRSs)
Date: 1999-02-08
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: carriage of passengers, code of conduct, computer system, organisation of transport, reservation, ticket

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I

(Acts whose publication is obligatory)

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 323/1999

of 8 February 1999

amending Regulation (EEC) No 2299/89 on a code of conduct for computer
reservation systems (CRSs)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

processing of personal data and on the free move-
ment of such data (4);

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Articles 75 and 84(2)
thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

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

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in
Article 189c of the Treaty (2),

(1) Whereas Regulation (EEC) No 2299/89 (3) has
made a major contribution to ensuring fair and
unbiased conditions for air carriers in computer
reservation systems, thereby protecting the interests
of consumers;

(2) Whereas it is necessary to extend the scope of
Regulation (EEC) No 2299/89 and to clarify its
provisions and it is appropriate to take these meas-
ures at Community level to ensure that the ob-
jectives of the Regulation are met in all Member
States;

(3) Whereas this Regulation is without prejudice to the
application of Articles 85 and 86 of the Treaty;

(4) Whereas this Regulation is without prejudice to the
application of Directive 95/46/EC of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995
on the protection of individuals with regard to the

exempts

(5) Whereas Commission Regulation (EC) No 3652/
93 (5)
common
agreements
purchase, development and operation of computer-
ised reservation systems from the provisions of
Article 85(1) of the Treaty;

the

for

(6) Whereas it is desirable to clarify the basis on which
parent carriers should be charged for bookings they
are required to accept from competing CRSs;

(7) Whereas it

is necessary to clarify the basis on
which CRSs charge for the services they provide for
participating carriers and subscribers, in particular
as regards incentives and in order to improve trans-
parency;

(8) Whereas it is necessary to ensure that third parties
carrying out services on behalf of a CRS are subject
to the same obligations as the code imposes on that
CRS;

(9) Whereas the code’s CRS audit requirements should
also be used to check data-protection requirements
arising out of Directive 95/46/EC;

(10) Whereas it is necessary to specify the obligations of
subscribers under the code so that the reservation
services they provide for their customers are not
inaccurate, misleading or discriminatory;

(1) OJ C 95, 30. 3. 1998, p. 27.
(2) Opinion of the European Parliament of 15 May 1998 (OJ C
167, 1. 6. 1998, p. 293), Council Common Position of 24
September 1998 (OJ C 360, 23. 11. 1998, p. 69) and Decision
of the European Parliament of 3 December 1998 (OJ C 398,
21. 12. 1998).

(3) OJ L 220, 29. 7. 1989, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regu-
lation (EEC) No 3089/93 (OJ L 278 11. 11. 1993, p. 1).

(11) Whereas express provision ought to be made for a
defendant’s right to be heard on matters to which
the Commission takes objection;

(4) OJ L 281, 23. 11. 1995, p. 31.
(5) OJ L 333, 31. 12. 1993, p. 37. Regulation as amended by the

Act of Accession of 1994.

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(12) Whereas the integration of rail services into the
CRS principal display can improve the quality of
information available to consumers and provide
consumers with the best options for their travel
arrangements;

(13) Whereas rail operators distributing certain well-
their services through the
defined categories of
to
principal displays of CRS should be subject
conditions comparable to those imposed on air
carriers;

(14) Whereas

information or distribution facilities
offered by a carrier or a group of air carriers should
not be subject to certain code provisions provided
that such arrangements are clearly and contin-
uously identified,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation No 2299/89 is hereby amended as follows:

1. Article 1 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 1

This Regulation shall apply to any computerised
reservation system, insofar as it contains air-transport
products and insofar as rail-transport products are
incorporated in its principal display, when offered for
use or used in the territory of the Community, irres-
pective of:

— the status or nationality of the system vendor,

— the source of the information used or the location
of the relevant central data processing unit,

— the geographical location of the airports between

which air carriage takes place'.

2. Article 2 shall be amended as follows:

(a) paragraph (l) shall be replaced by the following:

‘(l)

“subscriber” shall mean a person, other than
a consumer, or an undertaking, other than a
participating carrier, using a CRS under
contract or other financial arrangement with
a system vendor. A financial arrangement
shall be deemed to exist where a specific
payment
the
system vendor or where an air-transport
product is purchased';

is made for the services of

(b) paragraph (m) shall be replaced by the following:

‘(m)

“consumer” shall mean any person seeking
information about or intending to purchase
an air-transport product for private use';

(c) the following paragraphs shall be added:

‘(q)

“unbundled rail-transport product”
shall
mean the carriage of a passenger between
two stations by rail, including any related
ancillary services and additional benefits
offered for sale or sold as an integral part of
that product;

(r)

(s)

(t)

(u)

“bundled rail-transport product” shall mean a
pre-arranged combination of an unbundled
rail-transport product with other services not
ancillary to rail transport, offered for sale or
sold at an inclusive price;

“rail-transport product”
shall mean both
unbundled and bundled rail-transport prod-
ucts;

“ticket” shall mean a valid document giving
entitlement to transport or an equivalent in
paperless, including electronic, form issued
or authorised by the carrier or its authorised
agent;

“duplicate reservation” shall mean a situation
which arises when two or more reservations
are made for the same passenger when it is
evident that the passenger will not be able to
use more than one.'

3. Article 3a shall be amended as follows:

(a) paragraph 1(b) shall be replaced by the following:

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

(b) paragraph 2 shall be replaced by the following:

‘2.
The obligation imposed by this Article shall
not apply in favour of a competing CRS when, in
accordance with the procedures of Article 11, it

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has been decided that that CRS is in breach of
Article 4a or of Article 6 concerning parent
carriers’ unauthorised access to information'.

(v)

a group of airlines and/or subscribers is en-
titled to purchase data for common pro-
cessing'.

4. In Article 4(1) the following subparagraph shall be

added:

‘The principles stated in the first and second subpara-
graphs shall apply to rail services in respect of data
provided for inclusion in the principal display.'

8. Paragraphs (4) and (5) of Article 6 shall be deleted.

9. The following Article shall be inserted:

5. In Article 4a the following paragraph shall be added:

‘Article 9a

‘4.
The system vendor shall ensure that any third
parties providing CRS services in whole or in part on
its behalf comply with the relevant provisions of this
Regulation.'

6. Article 6(1)(a) shall be replaced by the following:

1.

(a)

In the case of information provided by a
CRS, a subscriber shall use a neutral display
in accordance with Article 5(2)(a) and (b)
unless another display is required to meet a
preference indicated by a consumer.

‘(a)

information concerning identifiable individual
bookings shall be provided on an equal basis
and only to the air carrier or carriers partici-
pating in the service covered by and to the
subscribers involved in the booking.

(b) No subscriber shall manipulate information
provided by a CRS in a manner that leads to
inaccurate, misleading or discriminatory
presentation of
information to any
consumer.

that

be

shall

Information under the control of the system
vendor concerning identifiable individual book-
off-line within
archived
ings
seventy-two hours of the completion of the last
element
and
destroyed within three years. Access to such data
shall be
for billing-dispute
reasons.'

allowed only

individual

booking

in the

7. Article 6(1)(b) shall be amended as follows:

(a) point (ii) shall be replaced by the following:

‘(ii)

such data may and, on request, shall cover
all participating carriers and/or subscribers,
but shall
include no identification, either
directly or indirectly, of, or personal infor-
mation on a passenger or a corporate user;'

(b) the following points shall be added:

‘(iv)

information is made available on request to
participating carriers and subscribers both
globally and selectively with regard to the
market in which they operate;

(c) A subscriber shall make reservations and
issue tickets in accordance with the infor-
mation contained in the CRS used, or as
authorised by the carrier concerned.

(d) A subscriber shall inform each consumer of
any en route changes of equipment,
the
number of scheduled en route stops, the
identity of the air carrier actually operating
the flight, and of any changes of airport
required in any itinerary provided, to the
extent that that information is present in
the CRS. The subscriber shall inform the
consumer of the name and address of the
the
system vendor,
processing, the duration of the retention of
individual data and the means available to
the data subject of exercising his access
rights.

purposes

the

of

(e) A consumer shall be entitled at any time to
have a print-out of the CRS display or to be
given access
to a parallel CRS display
reflecting the image that is being displayed
to the subscriber.

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(f) A person shall be entitled to have effective
access free of charge to his own data regard-
less of whether the data is stored by the CRS
or by the subscriber.

A subscriber shall use the distribution facilities

2.
of a CRS in accordance with Annex II.'

fee will be charged. Where a carrier elects to
be so informed, it shall be offered the option
of disallowing any such booking or transac-
tion, unless
the latter has already been
accepted. In the event of such a disallowance,
the air carrier shall not be charged for that
booking or transaction.

10. In Article 10 paragraphs 1 and 2 shall be replaced by

the following:

‘1.

(a) Any fee charged to a participating carrier by a
system vendor shall be non-discriminatory,
reasonably structured and reasonably related
to the cost of the service provided and used
and shall, in particular, be the same for the
same level of service.

The billing for the services of a CRS shall be
sufficiently detailed to allow the participating
carriers to see exactly which services have
been used and the fees
a
minimum, booking fee bills shall include the
following information for each segment:

therefor;

as

— type of CRS booking,

— passenger name,

— country,

— IATA/ARC agency identification code,

— city-code,

— city pair of segment,

— booking date (transaction date),

— flight date,

— flight number,

— status code (booking status),

— service type (class of service),

— passenger name record (PNR) locator, and

— booking/cancellation indicator.

The billing information shall be offered on
magnetic media. The fee to be charged for
the billing information provided in the form
chosen by the carrier shall not exceed the
cost of the medium itself together with its
transportation costs.

A participating air carrier shall be offered the
facility of being informed when any booking
or transaction is made for which a booking

(b) Any fee for equipment rental or other service
charged to a subscriber by a system vendor
shall be non-discriminatory, reasonably struc-
tured and reasonably related to the cost of the
service provided and used and shall, in partic-
ular, be the same for the same level of service.
Productivity benefits awarded to subscribers
by system vendors in the form of discount on
rental charges or commission payments shall
be deemed to be distribution costs of
the
system vendors and shall be based on ticketed
segments. When, subject to paragraph 5 of
Annex II the system vendor does not know
whether a ticket has been issued or not, then
that system vendor shall be entitled to rely
upon notification of the ticket number from
the subscriber.

The billing for the services of a CRS shall be
sufficiently detailed to allow subscribers to see
exactly which services have been used and
what fees have been charged therefor.

fees

A system vendor shall, on request, provide inter-
2.
including consumers, with details of
ested parties,
current procedures,
and system facilities,
including interfaces, editing and display criteria used.
For consumers that
information shall be free of
charge and cover the processing of individual data.
This provision shall not, however, require a system
vendor to disclose proprietary information such as
software.'

11. Article 19(1) shall be replaced by the following:

‘1.
Before taking decisions pursuant to Article 11
or 16, the Commission shall give the undertakings or
associations of undertakings concerned the oppor-
tunity of being heard on the matters to which the
Commission takes or has taken objection.'

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12. Article 21 shall be replaced by the following:

rail services, while respecting the principles stated in
Article 3(2).

‘Article 21

1. Neither Article 5, Article 9(5) nor the Annexes
shall apply to a CRS used by an air carrier or a group
of air carriers:

(a) in its or their own office or offices and sales

counters clearly identified as such;

or

(b) to provide information and/or distribution facili-
ties accessible through a public telecommunica-
tions network, clearly and continuously identi-
fying the information provider or providers as
such.

2. Where booking is performed directly by an air
carrier, that air carrier shall be subject to Article 9a(d)
and (f).'

13. Article 21a(1) shall be replaced by the following.

‘1.
The system vendor shall ensure that the tech-
nical compliance of its CRS with Articles 4a and 6 is
monitored by an independent auditor on a calendar
the auditor shall be
year basis. For that purpose,
granted access at all
to any programmes,
times
procedures, operations and safeguards used on the
computers or computer systems through which the
system vendor provides its distribution facilities. Each
system vendor shall submit its auditor’s report on his
inspection and findings to the Commission within
four months of the end of the calendar year under
review. The Commission shall examine those reports
with a view to taking any action necessary in accord-
ance with Article 11(1)'.

14. The following Article shall be added:

‘Article 21b

4.
A rail-transport operator shall be deemed to be a
participating or parent carrier, as appropriate, for the
purposes of the code, insofar as it has an agreement
with a system vendor for the distribution of its prod-
ucts through the principal display of a CRS or its own
reservation system is a CRS as defined in Article 2(f).
Subject to paragraph 5, those products shall be treated
as air-transport products and shall be incorporated in
the principal display in accordance with the criteria
set out in Annex I.

5.

(a) When applying the rules laid down in para-
graphs 1 and 2 of Annex I to rail services the
system vendor shall adjust the ranking prin-
ciples for the principal display in order to
take due account of the needs of consumers
to be adequately informed of rail services that
represent a competitive alternative to the air
services. In particular, system vendors may
rank rail services with a limited number of
short stops with non-stop direct air services.

(b) System vendors shall define clear criteria for
the application of this Article to rail services.
Such criteria shall cover elapsed journey time
and reflect the need to avoid excessive screen
padding. At least two months before their
application those criteria shall be submitted
to the Commission for information.

For the purposes of this Article, all references to
6.
in this Regulation shall be deemed to
“flights”
include references to “rail services” and references to
“air-transport products” shall be deemed to include
references to “rail products”.

Particular attention shall be given to an assess-
this Article in the

7.
ment of
the application of
Commission’s report under Article 23(1).'

Subject

1.
apply to the inclusion of rail-transport products.

this Regulation shall

to this Article,

15. Article 22(1) shall be replaced by the following:

A system vendor may decide to include rail

2.
services in the principal display of its CRS.

3. Where a system vendor decides to include rail
products in the principal display of its CRS, it shall
choose to include certain well-defined categories of

This Regulation shall be without prejudice to
‘1.
national
legislation on security, public-order and
data-protection measures taken in implementation of
Directive 95/46/EC (*).

(*) OJ L 281, 23. 11. 1995, p. 31.'

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16. Article 23 shall be replaced by the following:

17. The Annex shall be replaced by Annexes I and II set

‘Article 23

out in the Annex hereto.

Article 2

Within two years of the entry into force of this Regu-
lation, the Commission shall draw up a report on the
application of this Regulation which shall, inter alia,
take account of economic developments in the rel-
evant market. That report may be accompanied by
proposals for the revision of this Regulation.'

This Regulation shall enter into force on the thirtieth day
after that of its publication in the Official Journal of the
European Communities, with the exception of the new
Article 10(1)(b) of Regulation (EEC) No 2299/89, which
shall enter into force six months after the publication of
this Regulation.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
States.

Done at Brussels, 8 February 1999.

For the Council

The President

O. LAFONTAINE

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ANNEX

‘ANNEX I

Principal display ranking criteria for flights (1) offering unbundled air transport products

1. Ranking of flight options in a principal display, for the day or days requested, must be in the following

order unless requested in a different way by a consumer for an individual transaction:

(i)

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

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

(iii) connecting flights.

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

3. Where a system vendor chooses to display information for any city-pair in relation to the schedules or
fares of non-participating carriers, but not necessarily all such carriers, such information must be
displayed in an accurate, non-misleading and non-discriminatory manner between carriers displayed.

4.

If, to the system vendor’s knowledge, information on the number of direct scheduled air services and the
identity of the air carriers concerned is not comprehensive, that must be clearly stated on the relevant
display.

5. Flights other than scheduled air services must be clearly identified.

6. Flights involving stops en route must be clearly identified.

7. Where flights are operated by an air carrier which is not the air carrier identified by the carrier designator
code, the actual operator of the flight must be clearly identified. That requirement will apply in all cases,
except for short-term ad hoc arrangements.

8. A system vendor must not use the screen space in a principal display in a manner which gives excessive

exposure to one particular travel option or which displays unrealistic travel options.

9. Except as provided in paragraph 10, the following will apply:

(a)

for direct services, no flight may be featured more than once in any principal display;

(b) for multi-sector services involving a change of aircraft, no combination of flights may be featured

more than once in any principal display;

(c) flights involving a change of aircraft must be treated and displayed as connecting flights, with one

line per aircraft segment.

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

10. 1. Where participating carriers have joint-venture or other contractual arrangements requiring two or
more of them to assume separate responsibility for the offer and sale of air-transport products on a
flight or combination of flights, the terms “flight” (for direct services) and “combination of flights” (for
multi-sector services) used in paragraph 9 must be interpreted as allowing each of the carriers
concerned — not more than two — to have a separate display using its individual carrier-designator
code.

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

(1) All references to “flights” in this Annex are in accordance with Article 21b(6).

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11. A principal display must, wherever practicable, include connecting flights on scheduled services which
are operated by participating carriers and are constructed by using a minimum number of nine
connecting points. A system vendor must accept a request by a participating carrier to include an indirect
service, unless the routing is in excess of 130 % of the great circle distance between the two airports or
unless that would lead to the exclusion of services with a shorter elapsed journey time. Connecting points
with routings in excess of 130 % of that great circle distance need not be used.

ANNEX II

Use of distribution facilities by subscribers

1. A subscriber must keep accurate records covering all CRS reservation transactions. Those records must
include flight numbers, reservations booking designators, date of travel, departure and arrival times, status
of segments, names and initials of passengers with their contact addresses and/or telephone numbers and
ticketing status. When booking or cancelling space, the subscriber must ensure that the reservation
designator being used corresponds to the fare paid by the passenger.

2. A subscriber should not deliberately make duplicate reservations for the same passenger. Where confirmed
space is not available on the customer’s choice, the passenger may be wait-listed on that flight (if wait-list
is available) and confirmed on an alternative flight.

3. When a passenger cancels a reservation, the subscriber must immediately release that space.

4. When a passenger changes an itinerary, the subscriber must ensure that all space and supplementary

services are cancelled when the new reservations are made.

5. A subscriber must, where practicable, request or process all reservations for a specific itinerary and all

subsequent changes through the same CRS.

6. No subscriber may request or sell airline space unless requested to do so by a consumer.

7. A subscriber must ensure that a ticket is issued in accordance with the reservation status of each segment
and in accordance with the applicable time limit. A subscriber must not issue a ticket indicating a definite
reservation and a particular flight unless confirmation of that reservation has been received.'