Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the "Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending the amended 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" (COM(2003) 207 final — 2001/0140 (COD))
Date: 2003-06-18
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: air transport, airport, transport capacity, transport planning

16.9.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 220/71

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a Regulation of
the European Parliament and of the Council amending the amended 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’

(COM(2003) 207 final — 2001/0140 (COD))

(2003/C 220/14)

On 28 May 2003, the Council decided to consult the European Economic and Social Committee, under
Article 80 (2) of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the above-mentioned proposal.

On 17 June 2003 the Committee Bureau instructed the Section for Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and
the Information Society to prepare the work on the subject.

At its 400th plenary session of 18 and 19 June 2003 (meeting of 18 June), and in view of the urgency of
the matter, the European Economic and Social Committee appointed Mr Green as rapporteur-general and
adopted the following opinion by 64 votes in favour, with two abstentions.

1. Background

Article 10(3) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 95/93 (1)
1.1.
establishes that slots which are allocated to an air carrier shall
not entitle that air carrier to the same series of slots in the next
equivalent period, unless it can demonstrate that they have
been operated by that air carrier for at least 80 % of the time
during the period for which they have been allocated. If the
80 % usage of the series of slots cannot be demonstrated, all
the slots constituting that series shall be placed in the slot
pool, unless the non-utilization can be justified as set out on
Article 10(5) (‘use-it-or-lose-it’ rule).

1.4.
Accordingly, the Commission proposes to introduce a
new Article 10b into the Regulation whereby coordinators
would accept
that, when air carriers attribute the non-
utilisation of slots allocated to them for the Summer 2003
scheduling season to the hostilities in Iraq, they are allocated
these slots for the next equivalent scheduling season (Summer
2004).

1.5.
An important aspect of this proposal is its timing. The
proposed rule needs to enter into force before 15 September
2003, date at which the usage calculation for slots with
‘grandfather status’ for that season will be established, to allow
coordinators and air carriers to safeguard unused slots.

2. General comments and conclusions

1.2.
The war launched in March 2003 against Iraq and the
political developments that followed such launch as well as
the outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
have seriously affected the air transport operations of air
carriers and have triggered a significant reduction in demand
in the beginning of the summer 2003 scheduling season.

2.1.
The EESC reiterates its comments regarding the allo-
cation of slots for 2003 following the 11 September 2001 (2).
It agrees with the Commission proposal insofar as it takes into
account exceptional circumstances and gives legal certainty to
coordinators.

1.3.
In order to make sure that the non-utilisation of slots
allocated for that season does not cause air carriers to lose
their entitlement to those slots,
it is necessary to provide
clearly and unambiguously that those scheduling seasons are
adversely affected by the armed conflict.

2.2.
In fact, coordinators risked legal challenge unless
the question of the ‘use-it-or-lose-it’ rule was clearly and
unambiguously dealt with.

At the same time the proposal allows planning cer-

2.3.
tainty for carriers.

( 1) Council Regulation (EEC) 95/93 of 18 January 1993 on common
rules for the allocation of slots at Community airports (OJ L 14,
22.1.1993, p. 1) — EESC Opinion : OJ C 339, 31.12.1991, p. 41.

(2) 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 — EESC Opinion: OJ C 125, 27.5.2002,
p. 74.

C 220/72

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

16.9.2003

2.4.
tutions to the fact

However, the EESC draws the attention of the insti-
that providing slot protection to the

airlines should not create unfair competition preventing new
companies to access to the market.

Brussels, 18 June 2003.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Roger BRIESCH

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a Directive of the
European Parliament and of the Council on ship-source pollution and on the introduction of
sanctions, including criminal sanctions, for pollution offences’

(COM(2003) 92 final — 2003/0037 (COD))

(2003/C 220/15)

On 19 March 2003 the Council decided to consult the European Economic and Social Committee under
Article 80(2) of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the above-mentioned proposal.

The Section for Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society which was responsible for
preparing the Committee’s work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 5 June 2003. The rapporteur was
Mr Chagas and the co-rapporteur Dr Bredima-Savopoulou.

At its 400th plenary session of 18 and 19 June 2003 (meeting of 19 June) the European Economic and
Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 96 votes to 6 with 5 abstentions.

1.

Introduction

i.e.

As already announced in the Communication on
1.1.
improving safety at sea in response to the Prestige incident (1),
the Commission proposes to further ‘tighten the net’ relating
to ship-source pollution. The main part of world-wide ship-
source pollution by oil is the result of deliberate discharges.
intentional discharges from ships are still
Operational,
widely practised in the waters off the coasts of EU Member
States. As a consequence of recurring major incidents and
continued deliberate discharges, the Commission proposes a
Directive establishing that discharges in violation of Com-
munity laws shall constitute a criminal offence and that
sanctions, including criminal sanctions, are to be imposed if
the persons concerned have been found to have caused or
participated in the act by intent or grossly negligent behaviour.

( 1) COM(2002) 681 final.

1.2.
The Commission considers that the introduction of
adequate sanctions for marine-pollution offences is particularly
important as the international civil
liability regimes that
govern ship-source pollution incidents involve significant
shortcomings with respect
in
particular the ability of the polluter to nearly always limit
liability. Hence, the deterrent effect of criminal sanctions is
proposed.

to their dissuasive effects,

1.3.
The Transport Council (6 December 2002) welcomed
the intention of the Commission to present such a proposal
and the Justice and Home Affairs Council (19 December 2002)
agreed that ‘complementary measures should be considered to
strengthen the protection of the seas through criminal law’.