On Tuesday 9 July, the European Commission published the results of the evaluation of Directive 2009/12/EC on airport charges, a document in which it notes the relevance and effectiveness of the text, but points out several shortcomings.
This evaluation is made a little more than ten years after the implementation of the text (see EUROPE 9862/36, 9769/33). A public consultation on this subject was launched in April 2018 (see EUROPE 11994/19).
In this document, the Commission's experts note that the problems that justified the adoption of this Directive remain, but to a lesser extent. In particular, the Directive was intended to address the possibility for certain airports to extract prices and terms that would not otherwise have been achieved in a competitive market or the diverging charging systems in Member States. Thus, these problems persist, but in a less significant way.
For the institution, “the objectives of the Directive are still broadly relevant”, although gaps and inconsistencies are to be noted, in particular regarding the absence of references to the interests of passengers and owners of air freight.
In addition, the Commission considers that the text does have added value, but measures taken or differences in the interpretation of certain aspects at national level have had a negative impact on the effectiveness of the Directive and on the exact assessment of this added value.
Finally, it is noted in particular that the implementation of the Directive has entailed costs for businesses and administrations, but these have been offset by the benefits that have been achieved.
If no proposal for a revision of the text is considered by the Commission before the end of its mandate at the end of October, a reflection could be carried out in the coming months or years.
Link to the evaluation: https://bit.ly/2G9Mxl0 (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)