Commission Regulation (EC) No 1105/2002 of 25 June 2002 amending Regulation (EEC) No 1617/93 as regards consultations on passenger tariffs and slot allocation at airports
Date: 2002-06-25
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: air freight rate, air transport, competition, intra-EU transport, transport planning

L 167/6

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

26.6.2002

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1105/2002

of 25 June 2002

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,

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,

After consulting the Advisory Committee on Agreements and
Dominant Positions in Air Transport,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1617/93 of 25 June
1993 on the application of Article 85(3) of the Treaty to
certain categories of agreements and concerted practices
concerning joint planning and coordination of schedules,
joint operations, consultations on passenger and cargo
tariffs on scheduled air services and slot allocation at air-
ports (2), was last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1324/
2001 (3), to extend the block exemption in respect of
consultations on passenger tariffs until 30 June 2002
and the block exemption in respect of slot allocation and
airport scheduling, until 30 June 2004.

In February 2001 the Commission initiated a consulta-
tion on whether the block exemption for consultations
on passenger tariffs should be maintained in its current
form. The Commission received responses from Member
States, airlines, travel agents and consumer groups.

The vast majority of the respondents held the view that
the International Air Transport Association (IATA) pas-
senger tariff conferences secure an important benefit in
the form of interlining and that this benefit was unlikely
to be replicated by any alternative, less restrictive system.
While most respondents acknowledged that withdrawing

the block exemption for the passenger tariff conferences
would not mean the end of interlining altogether, many
felt that without the tariff conferences, consumers would
have a smaller choice of flexible fares and smaller airlines
might have fewer interlining opportunities and as a re-
sult find it harder to compete. However, some respon-
dents argued that, as alliances develop, at least in the
longer-term alliance or bilateral products might offer si-
milar benefits to the benefits of IATA interlining.

The airline industry is currently facing particular difficul-
ties and might therefore find it difficult to make the in-
vestments necessary to develop an alternative system of
interlining at this time.

The block exemption for passenger tariff conferences
should therefore be extended for three years, until 30
June 2005. In order to facilitate the Commission’s re-exa-
mination whether the block exemption should be further
extended after that date, an obligation should be added
to the exemption, requiring air carriers participating in
conferences to collect, for each IATA season and starting
as from 1 September 2002, data on the relative use of
the passenger tariffs set in the conferences and their rela-
tive importance for actual interlining. A period of three
years will allow for a series of data over a sufficient re-
presentative period.

Regulation (EC) No 1324/2001 extended the block ex-
emption for slot allocation and airport scheduling pend-
ing the adoption of the proposed amendments to Coun-
cil Regulation (EEC) No 95/93 of 18 January 1993 on
common rules for the allocation of slots at Community
airports (4), as amended by Regulation (EC) No 894/2002
of the European Parliament and of the Council (5). Since
those amendments have not yet been adopted, it is ap-
propriate to extend that block exemption by a further
year, until 30 June 2005.

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

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

(1) OJ L 374, 31.12.1987, p. 9.
(2) OJ L 155, 26.6.1993, p. 18.
(3) OJ L 177, 30.6.2001, p. 56.

(4) OJ L 14, 22.1.1993, p. 1.
(5) OJ L 142, 31.5.2002, p. 3.

26.6.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 167/7

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EEC) 1617/93 shall be amended as follows:

1. In Article 4, the following paragraph 3 is added:

‘3.
Air carriers participating in consultations on passenger
tariffs shall collect data as from 1 September 2002 with
regard to:
(a) the relative part of tariffs set in the consultations of all

fare traffic within the EEA;

(b) the extent to which tickets at tariffs set in the consulta-

tions are actually used for interlining;

(c) the extent to which tickets which are not at tariffs set in

the consultations are actually used for interlining.

The data collected shall be provided to the Commission by
or on behalf of the air carriers involved at six-monthly
intervals.’

2. In Article 7, the second paragraph shall be replaced by the

following:

‘It shall apply until 30 June 2005.’

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following
that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Com-
munities.

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

Done at Brussels, 25 June 2002.

For the Commission

Mario MONTI

Member of the Commission