The legal framework for international civil aviation rights dates back to the 1919 Convention for the Regulation of Aerial Navigation (Paris Convention), which was a part of the Paris Peace Conference. The hallmark aviation principle recognized by the Paris Convention is that every nation has absolute and exclusive sovereignty over the airspace above its defined territory. This principle was reaffirmed in 1944 at the Chicago International Civil Aviation Conference, which produced the Chicago Convention. The Chicago Convention resulted in an international framework based largely on national interests, favoring bilateral air transport agreements over multilateral accords with respect to issues such as routes, frequency and capacity. The Chicago Convention's accomplishments included an agreement by the signatories to grant each other two of the so-called "five freedoms" of air transport, specifically, the right to fly across other states without landing and the right to land for nontraffic purposes. In addition, the Chicago Convention established the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to regulate the safety, communications, and technological aspects of international civil aviation. Since the Chicago Convention, international civil aviation rights have developed primarily through a series of bilateral agreements between the United States and foreign countries. Most of these agreements have been "executive agreements" rather than treaties, thereby avoiding the advice and consent requirement of the Constitution, and typically have contained language favorable to the United States. For example, prior agreements permitted the United States to designate both an unlimited number of gateway cities and an unlimited numbers of carriers. In addition, the agreements provided the air carriers the right to determine capacity with only the vaguest of guidelines. As the United States began to deregulate its domestic airline industry, administrations began to seek more liberal, free-market-based international agreements as well. Domestically, however, even as the United States began to adopt more liberal regulations for its aviation industry, several existing laws continue to have a strong impact on international civil aviation. Currently, air transportation and air commerce are governed by the Federal Aviation Act of 1958. Section 401(a)(1) of the Act states that "an air carrier may provide air transportation only if the air carrier holds a certificate issued under this chapter authorizing the air transportation." The statute authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to "issue a certificate of public convenience and necessity to a citizen of the United States ...." Before issuing a certificate, however, the Secretary "must find that the citizen is fit, willing, and able to provide the transportation to be authorized by the certificate and to comply with this part and the regulations of the Secretary." Stated another way, to operate in the United States as an air carrier, an entity must be a U.S. citizen and must be judged by the Secretary to comply with the statute and any other applicable regulations. In addition to the citizenship requirements, U.S. law also contains a general prohibition against cabotage activity. Generally speaking, the term cabotage is defined as "the right of a foreign airline to carry passengers and/or cargo between airports of the same country." The prohibition states that "aircraft may take on for compensation, at a place in the United States, passengers or cargo destined for another place in the United States only ifâ(1) specifically authorized under section 40109(g) of this title; or (2) under regulations the Secretary prescribes authorizing air carriers to provide otherwise authorized air transportation with foreign registered aircraft under lease or charter to them without crew." If neither of those situations exists, foreign aircraft are not permitted to perform cabotage within the United States. In addition, the Secretary of Transportation has general discretionary authority to waive other economic-related statutory provisions listed in section 40109(c) "when the Secretary decides that the exemption is consistent with the public interest." The cabotage prohibition, however, is not among the regulations listed in section 40109(c). Finally, U.S. law has created an incentive program exclusively available to domestic air carriers; namely, the Civil Reserve Air Fleet Program (CRAF). Under this program, domestic air carriers supply aircraft on a voluntary basis to increase the military's airlift capacity. The CRAF allows the U.S. military, in times of need, to demand access to a selected percentage of the civil aircraft fleet to deliver troops and equipment to the battlefield. In August of 1992, the Department of Transportation (DOT) announced its "Open Skies" initiative, which was intended to continue the trend of liberalizing international civil aviation. As defined by the DOT, "Open Skies" consists of the following 11 principles: 1) Open entry on all routes; 2) Unrestricted capacity and frequency on all routes; 3) The right to operate between any point in the U.S. and any point in the European Community without restriction, including service to intermediate and beyond points, and the right to transfer passengers to an unlimited number of smaller aircraft at the international gateway; 4) Flexibility in setting fares; 5) Liberal charter arrangements; 6) Liberal cargo arrangements; 7) The ability of carriers to convert earnings into hard currency and return those earnings to their homelands promptly and without restriction; 8) Open code-sharing opportunities; 9) The right of a carrier to perform its own ground handling in the other country; 10) The ability of carriers to freely enter into commercial transactions related to their flight operations; [and] 11) A commitment for nondiscriminatory operation of and access to computer reservation systems. The "Open Skies" initiative incorporated many elements of the previous bilateral agreements and was designed to be entered into with any country "willing to permit U.S. carriers essentially free access to their markets." However, because "Open Skies" is an executive branch initiative, policies that require legislative changes to U.S. law, such as foreign ownership and control, and cabotage are not included within its principles. Currently, the United States is a party to 74 "Open Skies" Agreements worldwide. In Europe, the first "Open Skies" Agreement was reached in October of 1992 with the Netherlands, and over the next several years, similar agreements were reached with other European countries, including Austria, Czech Republic, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and Iceland. As a result of these agreements, the United States enjoys what can be characterized as quasi-cabotage rights within the European Union (EU). In other words, although U.S. carriers still cannot operate truly domestic routes (e.g., Paris to Marseille), they have created so-called "hub and spoke networks" within Europe; for example, a hub in Frankfurt, Germany, with spokes to Paris and Marseille. On the other hand, it should be noted that U.S. law currently prevents European carriers from enjoying any type of cabotage rights within the U.S. domestic market. The combination of the number of "Open Skies" Agreements between the United States and individual EU Members, and the growing dominance of U.S. air carriers throughout Europe, led the European Commission to seek a mandate to negotiate a bilateral aviation agreement between the United States and the EU. The Commission, however, was unable to obtain such a broad mandate and, in 2002, decided to bring legal action against those Member states that had independently negotiated and entered into "Open Skies" Agreements with the United States. While the European Court of Justice appeared to stop well short of invalidating the existing "Open Skies" Agreements, it did hold that certain specific provisions were discriminatory and therefore contrary to EU law. These included provisions relating to the allocation of airport slots and those governing pricing, fares, and rates of intra-European air services; agreements on computer reservation systems; and the "nationality clauses," which permit the United States to deny access to carriers whose home state has not signed an agreement. As a result of this decision, the legal status of the existing "Open Skies" Agreements has been questioned, and the EU Members have granted the Commission a mandate to negotiate a civil aviation agreement with the United States. Since the European Court of Justice ruling, the United States and the EU have committed to negotiations with respect to a comprehensive air transportation agreement often referred to as an "Open Aviation Area," or the "Transatlantic Common Aviation Area" (TCAA). Until recently, negotiations appeared to stall as the countries' differences on key issues prevented them from moving forward. In November 2005, however, the parties announced a negotiations breakthrough and the completion of text for a preliminary agreement. According to U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta, the agreement "provides new opportunities for U.S. and European airlines, healthier competition for a growing travel market and greater connections between cities and towns on both sides of the Atlantic." Although a draft agreement is not yet publicly available, according to the State Department, the agreement, if implemented, would, inter alia, allow every EU and U.S. airline to fly between every city in the European Union and every city in the United States and would permit U.S. and EU airlines to determine the number of flights, their routes, and fares according to market demand. In addition, the agreement would allow carriers to freely enter into cooperative arrangements with other airlines, such as code-sharing and leasing. According to some commentators who appear to have seen a version of the text, as comprehensive as the draft agreement appears to be, there cannot be meaningful reform in the international aviation market until Congress repeals the so-called "citizenship test," which limits foreign ownership and control of U.S. air carriers. Based on the information currently available regarding the draft agreement, it does not appear that the proposed agreement addresses foreign ownership or control, thus it appears to be left to each party to determine its own rules and regulations independently. As previously mentioned, U.S. law requires that all air carriers be "citizens of the United States" before they are granted certificates to operate between domestic locations.