PURPOSE: to conclude the Agreement between the
European Union and the Government of the People's Republic of China
on certain aspects of air services.
PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: Council may
adopt the act only if Parliament has given its consent to the
act.
BACKGROUND: following the judgements of the
Court of Justice in the so-called Open Skies cases, on
5 June 2003 the Council authorised the Commission to open
negotiations with third countries on the replacement of certain
provisions in existing bilateral air services agreements with an
agreement at Union level (horizontal authorisation).
The objectives of such agreements are to give
all EU air carriers non-discriminatory access to routes between the
European Union and third countries, and hence to bring bilateral
air services agreements between Member States and third countries
in line with Union law.
CONTENT: in accordance with the mechanisms and
directives in the Annex to the horizontal
authorisation, the Commission has negotiated an Agreement
with the People's Republic of China that replaces certain
provisions in the existing bilateral air services agreements
between Member States and China. The negotiations were
successfully concluded and the agreement was initialled on 8
December 2017.
The purpose of the Agreement is to bring the
existing bilateral air services agreements between 27 Member States
and the People's Republic of China into conformity with EU law. The
negotiations were successfully concluded by the initialling of the
Agreement on 8 December 2017.
The objective of the Agreement is to bring
bilateral air services agreements between 27 Member States and the
People's Republic of China in line with Union law
- Article 2 of the Agreement replaces the traditional
designation clauses with an EU designation clause, permitting all
EU carriers to benefit from the right of establishment.
- Article 4 resolves potential conflicts with the
competition rules of the Union.
With this proposal for a Decision, the Council
is invited to approve on behalf of the Union the Agreement between
the European Union and China on certain aspects of air
services.