Brussels, 11/01/2008 (Agence Europe) - Three days before the deadline, the European Parliament and the Council have resolved the comitology issues and, on Friday 11 January, reached agreement, after conciliation negotiations, on aviation security (see EUROPE 9034). As it demanded, Parliament will retain its right of scrutiny, with power of veto, over measures of implementation of the directive (types of articles not allowed on board planes, access controls and criteria for defining critical parts of security-restricted areas). The right of scrutiny will extend also to future joint common standards - which, by definition, could not be provided for or included in the regulation. Any new measures will be presented by the European Commission and adopted by the co-decision procedure. The other points of dispute (financing security measures, one-stop security, air marshals and carrying weapons) had all been previously resolved (see EUROPE 9569).
The new regulation will take effect two years after it comes into force (20 days after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU), apart from provisions regarding general security measures, specifications for national quality control programmes, security measures required by third countries and Commission inspections. These will apply from the date the regulation comes into force. The agreement will now have to be adopted by majority voting in Parliament and by qualified majority voting in the Council. (A.By.)