Proposal for a Council Decision on the position to be taken by the European Union in the Joint EU-Switzerland Air Transport Committee set up under the agreement between the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on air transport concerning an amendment to the annex thereto

With the incorporation of Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008 on common rules for the operation of air services in the Community into the EC-Switzerland Air Transport Agreement, a common regime was established between the EU and Switzerland, allowing air carriers from all EU Member States and Switzerland to operate air services within the whole area of the EU and Switzerland.

The same regime has been established between the European Economic Area (EEA) States, with the inclusion of Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008 into the EEA Agreement, for air carriers from all EEA States.

Through inclusion of Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008 into the Convention establishing the European Free Trade Association (Vaduz Convention), the same regime has also been established between Switzerland and the EFTA States for Swiss and EFTA air carriers. The EFTA States have raised the concern that despite this, three kinds of air services remain, however, problematic according to the present regimes:

(i) The operation of air services by an EFTA air carrier from an EU Member State to Switzerland and vice versa;

(ii) The operation of air services by a Swiss air carrier from an EU Member State to an EFTA State and vice versa;

(iii) The operation of air services by an EU air carrier from Switzerland to an EFTA State and vice versa.

In order to remove these legal restrictions so as to link the aviation markets established by the three Agreements mentioned above, it is necessary to grant air carriers from a State which is not a Party to the respective agreement the same right to operate air services as air carriers from a Contracting Party to the respective agreement (i.e. EFTA air carriers with respect to the EC-Switzerland Air Transport Agreement, Swiss air carriers with respect to the EEA Agreement and EU air carriers with respect to the Vaduz Convention).

EUR-Lex: COM(2012)570: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2012:570:FIN

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