CELEX: 51981PC0590
Language: en
Date: 1981-10-26
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DIRECTIVE ( EEC ) ON TARIFFS FOR SCHEDULED AIR TRANSPORT BETWEEN MEMBER STATES

No C 78/6                           Official Journal of the European Communities                                30. 3. 82
                                                           II
                                                   (Preparatory Acts)
                                             COMMISSION
              Proposal for a Council Directive on tariffs for scheduled air transport between Member
                                                         States
                          (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 27 October 1981)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                     Whereas fares should be offered on clear and under-
COMMUNITIES,                                                    standable conditions;
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the                    Whereas air carriers should be free to establish air
European Economic Community, and in particular                  tariffs individually, but should be permitted to consult
Article 84 (2) thereof,                                         with other airlines for the purpose of fixing the terms
                                                                of interlining arrangements, given the important
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,              benefits conferred by interlining facilities on air
                                                                transport in the Community and in the world;
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-
liament,                                                        Whereas within the air transport sector differences in
                                                                social conditions between Member States exist;
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
Social Committee,                                               Whereas provision should be made for rapid consul-
                                                                tation between Member States in the case of any
                                                                disagreement and for procedures for settling such
Whereas more flexible procedures for controlling
                                                                disagreements as are not resolved by consultation;
scheduled passenger air fares for air services between
Member States will give air carriers greater scope to
develop markets and meet consumer needs;                        Whereas provision should be made for the regular
                                                                consultation of consumer groups on matters relating
                                                                to air fares,
Whereas common rules to define fair prices should be
established and whereas such rules should lay down
criteria for the establishment of air fares so that they
bear a reasonable relationship to the costs of an
efficient air carrier;                                           HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
Whereas disruptive effects on the air transport system                             Scope and definitions
in the Community should be avoided and in
particular appropriate measures should be taken to                                        Article 1
prevent selling below cost including a reasonable
margin for overheads and profit;                                 This Directive applies to government procedures and
                                                                 criteria to be applied with respect to the fixing of
Whereas due attention should be paid to the                      scheduled air tariffs for passengers and air freight,
requirements of various user categories in establishing          established by air carriers for carriage between a
fares, while at the same time the tariff structure               point in one Member State to a point in another
should remain as simple as possible;                             Member State.
 ---pagebreak---   30. 3. 82                           Official Journal of the European Communities                               N o C 78/7
                            Article 2                             (b) are sufficient to cover the costs of the carrier on
                                                                       the route in question plus a reasonable margin for
 For the purposes of this Directive                                    overheads and profit;
 (a) Air tariffs mean the prices to be paid in the
      applicable local legal tender for the carriage by           (c) have due regard to the requirements of various
      air of passengers, baggage and freight, in                       user categories and encourage the development of
      accordance with the conditions under which                       demand by new categories of users while the
      those prices apply, including prices and                         tariff structure shall remain as simple as possible;
      conditions offered to intermediaries;
 (b) Air carrier means an air transport enterprise which         (d) are offered on conditions which are clear and
      is authorized by two or more Member States to                    understandable.
      operate scheduled international air services
      between those States;
                                                                  2.     An air carrier shall, however, be permitted to
 (c) State    of origin means the Member State from               match an existing tariff, which has been approved for
      which     the carriage commences in respect of              another airline in accordance with this Directive for
      which    an air tariff is established, i.e. both for        the same route with the same originating point.
      single  and return air tariffs;
 (d) State of destination means the Member State in
     which the carriage terminates in respect of which
      an air tariff is established;
                                                                                          Procedures
(e) States concerned mean the State of origin and the
      State of destination;
                                                                                            Article 4
(f) Interlining means a facility conferred by a ticket
      or an airwaybill granting the right to use more            Member States shall permit an air carrier to establish
     than one airline for the carriage;                          air tariffs:
(g) Scheduled air service means a series of flights each         (a) individually; or
     possessing all the following characteristics:
      (i) it is performed by aircraft for the transport of      (b) at the option of that air carrier, following consul-
          passengers or cargo for remuneration, in such               tation with any other airline(s) for the purpose of
          a manner that each flight is open to use by                 fixing the terms of interlining or in order to
          members of the public;                                      simplify and standardize conditions associated
                                                                      with air tariffs. Member States concerned and the
     (ii) is operated so as to serve traffic between the
                                                                      Commission may participate as observers at these
          same two or more points, either:
                                                                      consultations.
          (1) according to a published timetable; or
          (2) with flights so regular or frequent that
               they constitute a recognized systematic
                series.                                                                    Article 5
                                                                 1.     Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 6
                                                                 hereof, air tariffs shall be approved by the states
                                                                 concerned.
                            Criteria
                                                                2.      For this purpose air tariffs established by an air
                                                                carrier shall be filed with the States concerned.
                           Article 3
1.     The States concerned shall take all appropriate          3.      Such filing may be required by those States not
measures to ensure that air tariffs                             more than 60 days before the entry into force of the
                                                                air tariffs.
(a) are reasonably related to the costs of an efficient
     air carrier on the assumption that its principal
     place of business is located in the State of origin,       4.      Approval may be given expressly, but unless one
     while allowing for a satisfactory return on                of those States decides otherwise within 30 days
     investment and taking due account of the charac-           following the filing the filed air tariffs shall be
     teristics of the route;                                    considered as approved.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 78/8                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                30. 3. 82
                         Article 6                                                General provisions
1.     When a State concerned (hereafter called the                                    Article 7
first State) decides not to approve an air tariff in
conformity with Article 5 (4), it shall inform the            1.     At least once a year, each Member State shall
airline and the other State concerned (hereafter called       call on an air transport users committee to express its
the second State) in writing stating its reasons.             opinion on air fares and related matters for which
                                                              purpose the members of the committee shall be
                                                              supplied      with    appropriate     information.     This
                                                              committee shall in each Member State include the
2.     If the second State agrees with the decision of
                                                              main consumers' interests concerned with matters of
the first State, the State of origin shall request the
                                                              this kind. If no such committee exists, the State
airline concerned to file a new air tariff.
                                                              concerned shall set one up.
                                                              2.     The Commission shall convene periodically, at
3.     If the second State disagrees with the decision        least once a year, representatives of the transport
of the first State, it shall so notify the first State        users committees referred to in paragraph 1, for an
within two weeks of being informed and request a              exchange of views at Community level.
consultation. The first State shall make its represen-
tatives available at short notice for consultation on
the air tariff(s). For this consultation the States
concerned shall on request supply all relevant infor-                                   Article 8
mation to each other. At the consultation the States
concerned shall endeavour to agree on the air tariff as
                                                               1.     The Commission shall, every second year after 1
 filed or agree on modifications thereto.                      January 1983, publish a report on the scheduled air
                                                               tariffs to which this Directive applies.
4.     If at the expiry of one month after the date on         2.     For the purposes of this report, the Member
which the second State was notified disagreement still         States shall inform the Commission of all such air
persists, the State of origin can approve the air tariff       tariffs filed with them and of any instance when
unilaterally, after having ascertained that the criteria       Article 6 has been invoked during the relevant period,
of Article 3 are met, or subject to such modifications         and, at the request of the Commission, provide details
 as will make it comply with Article 3. In this case the       with respect to the conformity of the procedures
 air tariff shall come into force two weeks after the          actually adopted by Member States with the
 approval of the State of origin except where the other        provisions of this Directive and the conformity of
State concerned within this period refers the matter to        such air tariffs with the criteria in Article 3.
the Commission for decision under paragraph 6.
                                                               3.     Before issuing the report, the Commission shall
                                                               as it thinks fit consult with the representatives of the
                                                               air transport users committees, airlines, governments
5.     Where no agreement is reached under the
                                                               and other interested parties.
procedure set out in paragraph 3, or where action is
taken under paragraph 4, the dispute may, at the
request of any Member State concerned, be referred             4.     Confidential information obtained by the
to the Commission.                                             application of this Directive is covered by pro-
                                                               fessional secrecy.
6.     The Commission shall within 30 working days
of the date of referral after consulting the Member                                     Article 9
States concerned take a decision. Upon referral of a
dispute to the Commission, the States concerned shall          Air tariffs being applied at the entry into force of this
immediately make available all pertinent information           Directive remain valid until replaced by other air
at their disposal to the Commission. The Commission            tariffs.
shall notify its decision to the States concerned.
7.     In the absence of a decision by the Commission                                  Article 10
within 30 working days from the date of referral the
air tariff shall come into effect until such date as the      Where a Member State has concluded an agreement
decision of the Commission comes into force.                  with one or more third countries, which gives fifth
 ---pagebreak--- 30. 3. 82                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                 No C 78/9
freedom rights for a route between Member States to                 administrative     provisions    to   comply  with   this
an air carrier of a third country and in this respect               Directive.
contains provisions incompatible with this Directive,
the Member State shall take at the first opportunity                2.     Such measures shall cover, inter alia, the organ-
all     appropriate      steps      to    eliminate    such         ization of, procedures for and means of control, and
incompatibilities.      Until     such     time    as    the        the penalties for any breach.
incompatibilities have been eliminated this Directive
shall not affect the rights and obligations vis-d-vis
                                                                    3.     The Member States shall communicate to the
third countries arising from such an agreement.
                                                                    Commission all laws and administrative provisions
                                                                    made in furtherance of this Directive.
                          Article 11
1.     The Member State shall, before 1 January 1983,                                        Article 12
and after consultation with the Commission, take the
necessary steps to            amend     their laws      and         This Directive is addressed to the Member States.
                Amended proposal for a Council Directive on the coordination of laws, regulations and
                              administrative provisions relating to legal expenses insurance (')
                (Submitted by the Commission to the Council pursuant to the second paragraph of Article
                                         149 of the EEC Treaty on 22 February 1982)
                     ORIGINAL PROPOSAL                                                     NEW PROPOSAL
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                         THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN
 COMMUNITIES                                                        COMMUNITIES
                                                            Citations
 First citation                                                     First, second, third and fourth citations
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the                        (unchanged)
European Economic Community, and in particular
Article 57 (2) thereof,
 Second citation
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
 Third citation
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-
liament,
 Fourth citation
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
Social Committee,
(') O J N o C 198,7. 8. 1979, p. 2.