Brussels, 30/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - The EU and the United States last week reached a "political agreement" putting an end to their dispute over aircraft fitted with hushkits, it was announced on Monday evening by the Belgian Council Presidency. The EU pledged to withdraw its October 1998 hushkit regulation, while the United States undertakes to withdraw the complaint that it filed against the regulation with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), it is stated in a press release from Transport Minister Isabelle Durant.
The European Commission is expected to present, in November, a new proposal of directive intended to replace the "hushkit" regulation, that will allow European airports to ban the noisiest aircraft, following the provisions established in the resolution adopted by the ICAO earlier this month (see EUROPE of 10 October, p.10). It will then withdraw its "hushkit" regulation, in principle before April 2002, when it is to apply to third country aircraft (the ban hitherto affected aircraft registered in Europe since May 2000). On this basis, the EU and the United States will proceed to an exchange of correspondence marking the end of the conflict. In the meanwhile, ICAO conciliators are expected to note the compromise reached by Europeans and Americans during a meeting of the ICAO Council mid-November.
Both parties claim victory. Europeans stress that it was under pressure of this regulation that an agreement on new norms on aircraft noise was found at the ICAO early October, and the Americans state the EU needed this pretext to capitulate. Whatever, the agreement puts an end to a dispute that has opposed the United State and the Union for the past two years and that could entail the loss of EU15 voting rights on aviation-related issues (at the ICAO), stresses the Belgian Presidency's press release.
The "hushkit" regulation banned the new registrations of older aircraft that met Chapter II of the acoustic classification defined by ICAO, but that were able to be re-certified under Chapter III, thanks to the installation of soundproofing devices, the "hushkits". Some 1500 aircraft were concerned. The new directive will make it possible to ban aircraft that do not "marginally" meet Chapter III certification criteria as defined by the International Convention in Chicago, on an airport-to-airport basis. It will set out common parameters for defining this margin and the environmental performance of aircraft, in compliance with the annexes to the October ICAO resolution, which specified that local prohibitions should be based on a "balanced approach" and "objective" criteria with regards environmental friendliness.