Civil Aviation Act 2012

3 Prohibition

(1) Subsection (2) applies where for a period—

(a) a person (“P”) is the operator of an airport area (“area A”) that is a dominant area or part of a dominant area,

(b) area A is located at a dominant airport, and

(c) P does not have a licence in respect of area A.

(2) The persons mentioned in subsection (3) may not require a person to pay a relevant charge in respect of airport operation services that are provided during that period in—

(a) area A, or

(b) any other area that forms part of the same airport and in respect of which P is the operator and does not have a licence.

(3) Those persons are—

(a) P,

(b) a person who is connected to P,

(c) a person to whom P or a person connected to P has assigned the right to require payment of the charge, and

(d) a person acting on behalf of a person within paragraph (a), (b) or (c).

(4) If a person requires payment of charges in contravention of subsection (2)—

(a) the charge is not recoverable by the person, and

(b) if paid, the charge is recoverable from the person.

(5) A charge is not irrecoverable under subsection (4)(a) or recoverable under subsection (4)(b) by reason of—

(a) the invalidity of a market power determination (and the consequent continuation in effect of a previous market power determination), or

(b) the invalidity of an operator determination,

if it is a charge in respect of services provided before invalidity is finally determined in legal proceedings.

(6) Subsection (5) applies—

(a) whether or not the charge is required to be paid before the final determination of invalidity, and

(b) whether or not the charge is paid before that determination.

(7) The CAA may enforce subsection (2) in civil proceedings for an injunction or, in Scotland, an interdict.

(8) In this section “relevant charge” means any charge other than—

(a) a penalty payable by virtue of section 38C of the Civil Aviation Act 1982 (breaches of noise control schemes),

(b) a penalty payable by virtue of section 78A of the Civil Aviation Act 1982 (penalty schemes established by managers of aerodromes), or

(c) a charge payable by virtue of section 73 of the Transport Act 2000 (charges for chargeable air services).