PURPOSE : to conclude a Common Aviation Area
Agreement between the European Union and its Member States and
Ukraine.
PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the Council may
adopt the act only if Parliament has given its consent to the
act.
BACKGROUND: air services between the EU and Ukraine
operate at present on the basis of bilateral agreements between
individual Member States and Ukraine. It is part of the EU's
external aviation policy to negotiate comprehensive air services
agreements with neighbouring countries, where the added value and
economic benefits of such agreements have been
demonstrated.
In this context, the Commission has negotiated an
agreement on a Common Aviation Area Agreement between the European
Union and its Member States and Ukraine.
The negotiating directives set out the general
objective of gradually and reciprocally opening market
access and ensuring regulatory convergence and effective
implementation of EU requirements and standards.
In accordance with the negotiating directives, a draft
Agreement with Ukraine was initialled by the two sides on 28
November 2013.
The Agreement should be concluded on behalf of the
EU.
CONTENT: the draft decision calls on the Council to
approve on behalf of the EU the Common Aviation Area Agreement
between the EU and its Member States and Ukraine.
General principles : the Agreement aims for :
·
gradual market opening in terms of access to
routes and capacity on a reciprocal basis;
·
ensuring regulatory convergence and effective
compliance by Ukraine with EU aviation related legislation;
and
·
non-discrimination and level playing field for
economic operators.
The provisions of the Agreement will prevail over the
relevant provisions of the existing bilateral air services
agreements between Member States and Ukraine.
However, existing traffic rights which originate from
these bilateral agreements and which are not covered under this
Agreement can continue to be exercised, provided that there is no
discrimination between the Member States and their
nationals.
Main provisions: the Agreement creates equal and
uniform conditions for market access for all Union carriers and
establishes new arrangements for regulatory cooperation and
convergence between the European Union and Ukraine in fields
essential for the safe, secure, and efficient operation of air
services.
The Agreement provides for :
·
the extension of its terms to the 28 Member
States, applying the same rules without discrimination and
benefiting all Union air carriers regardless of their
nationality ;
·
enabling these carriers to operate freely from
any point in the European Union to any point in Ukraine which is
currently not the case.
Annexes : the
Agreement consists of the main body including the core principles
and seven annexes:
- Annex I on EU applicable requirements and standards;
Annex II on agreed services and specified routes;
- Annex III on transitional provisions;
- Annex IV on the list of certificates to be
recognised;
- Annex V on the list of States referred to in Articles
17, 19 and 22 and Annexes II and III to the Agreement;
- Annex VI on procedural rules; and
- Annex VII on criteria referred to in Article 26,
paragraph 4 of the Agreement.