Brussels, 25/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - According to a provisional document from the European Commission inter-services dated at the beginning of November, the latter has defined three fields of action to guarantee competitiveness and sustainability in the European aviation sector: - facilitating access to the emerging markets in third countries by tackling barriers “in the air and on the ground” that are holding growth in the European sector in check; -maintaining European safety and security standards on a performance-based approach and the right balance between costs and available resources.
Faced with the emergence of strong international competition (see EUROPE 11431), the Commission is looking at ways of facilitating access to the market of third countries and ensuring fair competition. In this connection, it is calling for a negotiating mandate to conclude agreements with China, the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Mexico and Armenia.
The Commission is also committed to concluding bilateral agreements in aviation security with aeronautical manufacturers, particularly those from China and Japan and drawing up new rules to tackle unfair competitive practices by third countries and operators. In this connection, the Commission also intends to adopt interpretive guidelines from Regulation 1008/2008 establishing common rules for the use of aviation services in the EU, particularly with regard to ownership and the control of European airlines. This will seek to ensure greater legal safety for investors and the airlines.
With regard to the internal pillar, the Commission intends to remove existing barriers and to this end will carry out a study to determine whether a revision of the directive on airport fees (2009/12/EC) is necessary. It also wants to draw up an annual index of airline connections, in an effort to follow trends within the Union and identify the barriers and subsequent measures that can be taken to tackle them. The organisation is also looking at the possibility of publishing interpretive guidelines on the rules setting out public service obligations.
With regard to maintaining European standards on safety and security, the Commission is hoping to propose a regulatory framework for introducing common rules on aviation security and replacing Regulation 216/2008, which established bodies such as the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). In this respect, the objective will be to introduce new mechanisms to ensure more efficient surveillance, by way of the adoption of new methods based on risk assessment, performance and the proportionality principle. The Commission is therefore seeking to revise the aviation security programme.
Other important points will also be tackled in the strategy, such as social issues, the protection of airline passenger rights and drones. On the first point, the Commission is seeking to give its support to the social dialogue in the area of aviation, set up the European Observatory on jobs in the airlines, in cooperation with the member states and stakeholders and, finally, clarify the legal framework for high mobile workers, with publication of interpretive guidelines on the labour law applicable.
On the second point, the Commission and guardian of the treaties does not appear to be making any particular announcement but is calling on co-legislators to more swiftly adopt the revision of the 261/2004 regulation introducing common rules on the compensation and assistance of passengers who are refused embarkation or who have their flights cancelled or experience significant delays.
For the third point, the Commission is seeking to set out a clear legal framework to enable safe development in the drone sector, which will still include assessing the risks. This will take place at the same time as a new regulation on aviation security. In this respect, it is planning to ask EASA to define a raft of rules, in cooperation with the industry and European and international regulators.
This constitutes a provisional but early version of the Commission strategy, whose final version is expected to be presented on Wednesday 2 December. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)