Brussels, 01/07/2002 (Agence Europe) - Belgian Transport Minister Isabelle Durant is "determined" to defend the Belgian legislation on hushkits against the United States and the European Commission, she announced to the press on Monday. She will therefore uphold the Royal Decree of 14 April, which bans the circulation of aircraft equipped with noise reduction equipment, or hushkits, between 23h00 and 6h00 at Belgian airports. "There is no reason to accept the United States' economic logic to preserve the interest of Boeing", said the Belgian Minister.
As we pointed out in EUROPE of 14 June, p.7, the United States announced on 12 June that it intended to withdraw its complaint filed with the International Civilian Aviation Organisation (ICAO) against EU Member States in the hushkit affair, but to continue action against Belgium. It considers that the Belgian ruling runs counter to the international agreement concluded in October 2001 at ICAO and the European directive transposing this agreement into Community law. The directive adopted on 26 March repealed the hushkit regulation challenged by the United States.
The Commission, also, had requested information from Belgium on the compatibility of the Royal decree with the new directive, the first stage towards eventual infringement proceedings. In its response, Belgium bases its defence on a "whereas" in the ICAO resolution recognising that States may maintain an "established policy" on noise reduction, and an article in the European directive that allows restrictions already decided at the date when the present directive came into force to be maintained. The Belgian defence juggles with the terms "already decided" stressing that, although the directive came into effect before the Royal Decree, the decision had been taken by the federal government in February 2000. Publication of the ruling was then delayed by a conflict of authority between the Wallonia region and the federal authority. Belgium also stresses that Articles 174 and 175 of the Treaty recognise the principle of subsidiary while specifying that "Community policy in the field of the environment aims at a high level of protection, taking into account the diversity of the situations in the different Community regions". "I believe that the arguments given at the Commission are more than sufficient to bury the matter", Ms Durant told the press. We recall that Isabelle Durant had negotiated the IACO agreement on behalf of the EU, in her capacity as President of the Transport Council. She believes that "considering where we started", the agreement was "a good balance as it allowed policies already decided to be maintained".