Union considers further delay to hush-kit ban as US turns up heat

Date: 16/09/1999

By Renée Cordes

THE EU is considering delaying its controversial ban on aircraft fitted with 'hush kits' to reduce engine noise yet again as the threat of retaliatory action by Washington intensifies.

Officials insist that the Union will not bow to the US administration's demands for the ban to be withdrawn altogether, but several member states have indicated that they would support a further delay while both sides try to hammer out a common stance on new international noise standards.

"In principle many options are technically open," said one diplomat. "The real issue is what is politically viable and feasible." Another said that although the Union would not consider repealing the ban, it was weighing several possibilities - including a delay - to avoid reigniting a potentially damaging transatlantic trade spat.

The controversial measure, which was approved by EU governments earlier this year, would outlaw planes fitted with the kits, which reduce engine noise levels to those required under International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) rules. Airlines would be prevented from registering planes with equipment designed to reduce engine noise in Europe from May 2000, and those registered in other countries from flying in the EU from 2002.

The ban was originally due to come into force this spring, but member states postponed its implementation for a year following fierce lobbying by Washington. US officials claimed the move would hurt more than €1-billion worth of American-made aircraft and equipment.

US Under Secretary of Commerce David Aaron was due to fly into Brussels this week to present Washington's case to senior Commission officials as Congress considers whether to press ahead with its threat of a retaliatory ban on flights to New York by Air France and British Airways' flagship supersonic aircraft Concorde.

At a hearing on the issue in Congress last week, US aircraft industry officials argued that the EU law was "highly discriminatory" and Aaron warned of the risk of "increased trade tensions" if the hush-kit regulation was not withdrawn.

"Withdrawal of the regulation would ease these tensions, avoiding the necessity of the US having to consider initiating actions to protect our interests," he added.

Aaron called on the incoming European Commission to "take a fresh look at this issue and move forward promptly with steps to begin the process of withdrawal of this pernicious regulation".

EU sources said they were unruffled by Washington's renewed threat to file a complaint with the World Trade Organisation or the ICAO. Michel Ayral, the Commission's director of air transport policy, said last week that a way might be found to prevent the rules coming into force if the EU could secure a guarantee of US cooperation on a new standard.

Meanwhile, the EU is staging a lobbying campaign of its own, directed at the ban's critics in the US. It is circulating a 14-page 'information pack' in Washington explaining the reason for the hush-kit ban and claiming that it does not discriminate against any aircraft or equipment.

The Finnish presidency will officially reopen the debate on the future of the ban at a special behind-closed-doors meeting of EU diplomats next week, as it tests the waters ahead of a meeting of transport ministers in early October. The Commission is set to present a progress report on talks with the US to ministers at that meeting, which will mark the incoming Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio's debut before ministers.

The EU is considering delaying its controversial ban on aircraft fitted with 'hush kits' to reduce engine noise yet again as the threat of retaliatory action by Washington intensifies.