WRITTEN QUESTION E-1592/02 by Glyn Ford (PSE) to the Commission. Carriers' liability.
Date: 2002-06-05
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU migration policy, air transport, border control, crew, international human rights law, liability, right of asylum, transport company

9.10.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 242 E/3

amount to violations of the European Convention on Human Rights, in particular its Article 6 on the right
to a fair trial and Article 1 of Protocol No 1 on the protection of property (since a driver risks having his
vehicle confiscated if he cannot pay the fine immediately).

(1) OJ C 301 E, 5.12.2002, p. 45.

(2003/C 242 E/005)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1590/02

by Glyn Ford (PSE) to the Commission

(5 June 2002)

Subject: Carriers’ liability

Further to my questions on carriers’ liability (E-0488/02 (cid:1) 0493/02) (1) and the Commission’s reply of
4 April 2002, could the Commission comment on the following point:

Since the Commission continues to share the view that carriers’ liability legislation ‘may be an efficient tool
in fighting illegal immigration’ and the Commission is apparently also of the view that such legislation
should be fully harmonised and applied to all means of transport, does the European Commission also feel
it necessary, for the sake of consistency and of wanting to avoid double standards, to impose carriers’
liability legislation on taxi drivers as well as owners of private vehicles in regions close to the EU external
borders? It may interest the Commission to know that this is already the case in at least two Member
States, Greece and Spain.

(1) OJ C 301 E, 5.12.2002, p. 45.

(2003/C 242 E/006)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1591/02

by Glyn Ford (PSE) to the Commission

(5 June 2002)

Subject: Carriers’ liability

Further to my questions on carriers’ liability (E-0488/02 (cid:1) 0493/02) (1) and the Commission’s reply of
4 April 2002, could the Commission comment on the following point:

The Commission’s comment on the ruling of the Austrian Constitutional Court that it did not challenge
the principle of carriers’ liability as a means of restricting illegal immigration is indeed correct. However, as
the Commission is aware, courts do not have the habit of responding to questions which are not raised
and the Austrian Constitutional Court was not asked for an opinion on whether carriers’ liability is a
means of restricting illegal immigration.

(1) OJ C 301 E, 5.12.2002, p. 45.

(2003/C 242 E/007)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1592/02

by Glyn Ford (PSE) to the Commission

(5 June 2002)

Subject: Carriers’ liability

Further to my questions on carriers’ liability (E-0488/02 (cid:1) 0493/02) (1) and the Commission’s reply of
4 April 2002, could the Commission comment on the following point:

C 242 E/4

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

9.10.2003

Since the Commission considers that ‘it is possible for Member States to adopt carriers’ liability laws and to
respect, at the same time, the obligations to which they subscribed under the 1951 Geneva Convention’,
and in many but not all countries applying such legislation a carrier is exempt from paying a fine if a
claim for protection lodged by an insufficiently-documented traveller is considered admissible, does the
Commission consider it reasonable to require an airline check-in staff member, who normally has no more
than five minutes to examine travel documents, to decide whether a would-be passenger is a bona fide
asylum-seeker, a task which even the most rapid, efficient, competent and well-trained officials of any
Member State are very often unable to do within two days?

(1) OJ C 301 E, 5.12.2002, p. 45.

(2003/C 242 E/008)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1593/02

by Glyn Ford (PSE) to the Commission

(5 June 2002)

Subject: Carriers’ liability

Further to my questions on carriers’ liability (E-0488/02 (cid:1) 0493/02) (1) and the Commission’s reply of
4 April 2002, could the Commission comment on the following point:

Is the Commission aware that in many airports around the world the task of checking in passengers is
often done by the personnel of the country’s national airline and not by the staff of the airline which is
sanctioned if it carries insufficiently-documented passengers?

(1) OJ C 301 E, 5.12.2002, p. 45.

(2003/C 242 E/009)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1594/02

by Glyn Ford (PSE) to the Commission

(5 June 2002)

Subject: Carriers liability

Further to my questions on carriers’ liability (E-0488/02 (cid:1) 0493/02) (1) and the Commission’s reply of
4 April 2002, could the Commission comment on the following point:

If carriers’ liability is indeed to be extended to taxi drivers and owners of private vehicles in regions close
to EU external borders, should not all transport firms, again for the sake of avoiding double standards, also
be fined if irregular migrants are found on board their vehicles, including private or state-owned inter-city
buses?

(1) OJ C 301 E, 5.12.2002, p. 45.

Joint answer
to Written Questions E-1587/02, E-1588/02,
E-1589/02, E-1590/02, E-1591/02, E-1592/02, E-1593/02 and E-1594/02
given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(9 July 2002)

All eight questions posed by the Honourable Member relate directly to the issue of carriers’ liability and
should therefore be answered jointly.