Commission Regulation (EC) No 1324/2001 of 29 June 2001 amending Regulation (EEC) No 1617/93 as regards consultations on passenger tariffs and slot allocation at airports
Date: 2001-06-29
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: air freight rate, air transport, competition, intra-EU transport, transport planning

L 177/56

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

30.6.2001

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1324/2001

of 29 June 2001

amending Regulation (EEC) No 1617/93 as regards consultations on passenger tariffs and slot
allocation at airports

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

(3)

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 3976/87 of 14
December 1987 on the application of Article 85(3) of the
Treaty to certain categories of agreements and concerted prac-
tices in the air transport sector (1), as last amended by the Act
of Accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden, and in particular
Article 2 thereof,

Having published a draft of this Regulation (2),

Having consulted the Advisory Committee on Agreements and
Dominant Positions in Air Transport,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

By Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1617/93 (3), as last
amended by Regulation (EC) No 1083/1999 (4),
the
Commission granted a block exemption for, among
other things, consultation on tariffs for the carriage of
passengers and their baggage on scheduled air services
and slot allocation at airports and airport scheduling.
That Regulation is applicable until 30 June 2001.

The Commission has initiated a consultation on whether
the block exemption for consultations on passenger
tariffs should be maintained in its current form. That
consultation will be completed by the end of 2001.
Following that consultation, the Commission may make
proposals for a new block exemption or initiate an
individual procedure. The current block exemption for

consultations on passenger tariffs should therefore be
extended for one year.

The reasons obtaining in 1993 for granting a block
exemption for agreements and concerted practices on
slot allocation and airport scheduling of air services
between airports within the Community remain fully
valid today. It is therefore appropriate to extend that
block exemption. In order to allow for the possibility of
adapting this block exemption once the envisaged
amendments to Council Regulation (EEC) No 95/93 of
18 January 1993 on common rules for the allocation of
slots at Community airports (5) are adopted, that exten-
sion should be granted for three years.

(4)

Regulation (EEC) No 1617/93 should therefore be
amended accordingly,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

In Article 7 of Regulation (EEC) No 1617/93, the second
paragraph is replaced by the following:

‘It shall apply until 30 June 2002 so far as the exemption
for consultations on tariffs for the carriage of passengers
with their baggage is concerned and until 30 June 2004 so
far as the exemption for slot allocation and airport sched-
uling is concerned.’

This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 July 2001.

Article 2

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

Done at Brussels, 29 June 2001.

For the Commission

Mario MONTI

Member of the Commission

(1) OJ L 374, 31.12.1987, p. 9.
(2) OJ C 107, 7.4.2001, p. 4.
(3) OJ L 155, 26.6.1993, p. 18.
(4) OJ L 131, 27.5.1999, p. 27.

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