Directive 92/14/EEC is hereby amended as follows:
the following paragraph shall be added to Article 1:
‘3.For the purposes of this Directive:
“air carrier” means an air transport undertaking with a valid operating licence;
“operating licence” means an authorisation granted to an undertaking permitting it to carry out carriage by air of passengers, mail and/or cargo for remuneration and/or hire;
“Community air carrier” means an air carrier with a valid operating licence granted by a Member State in accordance with Council Regulation (EEC) No 2407/92 of 23 July 1992 on licensing of air carriers(1)
“total civil subsonic jet fleet” means the total aircraft fleet of civil subsonic jet aeroplanes at the disposal of the air carrier, through ownership or any form of lease agreement of not less than one year.’;
the following paragraph shall be added to Article 2:
‘4.Before the date referred to in paragraph 2, the operation of civil subsonic jet aeroplanes which do not comply with the provision of paragraph 1(a) may be restricted or excluded at the airports of Berlin Tegel and Berlin Tempelhof.’;
Article 3(b) shall be replaced by the following:
‘these aeroplanes were on the register of the developing nation shown for that aeroplane in the Annex in the reference year and continue to be used either directly or under any form of lease agreement by natural or legal persons established in that nation.’;
the following subparagraph shall be added to Article 3:
‘The exemption referred to in the preceding subparagraph shall not apply where the aeroplane is leased to a natural or legal person established in a country other than the one mentioned for that aeroplane in the Annex.’;
in Article 4, Article 5(c) and (d) and Article 6 ‘airline’ shall be replaced by ‘air carrier’;
Article 7 shall be replaced by the following:
1.Member States may limit deletion from their registers of all mention of aeroplanes which do not comply with the standards of Chapter 3 of Annex 16 to an equivalent annual rate of up to 10 % of the total civil subsonic jet fleet of a Community air carrier.
2.Member States shall not apply the provisions of Article 2(1) in respect of aeroplanes retained on the register of a Member State in accordance with paragraph 1.
3.Where a Member State has applied an equivalent exemption to that described in paragraphs 1 and 2 to aeroplanes on the register of a third country and operating into that Member State before this Directive enters into force, the exemption may continue to be recognised subject to compliance by the air carrier with the conditions.’;
the following Articles shall be inserted:
Amendments to the Annex which may prove necessary in order to ensure full conformity with the criteria set out in Article 3 shall be effected according to the procedure defined in Article 9b(2).
1.The Commission shall be assisted by the committee provided for in Council Regulation (EEC) No 3922/91 of 16 December 1991 on the harmonisation of technical requirements and administrative procedures in the field of civil aviation(2), which shall act in accordance with the procedure outlined in paragraph 2.
2.The representative of the Commission shall submit to the committee a draft of the measures to be taken. The committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft within a time limit which the chairman may lay down according to the urgency of the matter. The opinion shall be delivered by the majority laid down in Article 148(2) of the Treaty in the case of decisions which the Council is required to adopt on a proposal from the Commission. The votes of the representatives of the Member States within the committee shall be weighted in the manner set out in that Article. The chairman shall not vote.
3.(a)The Commission shall adopt the measures envisaged if they are in accordance with the opinion of the committee.
(b)If the measures envisaged are not in accordance with the opinion of the committee, or if no opinion is delivered, the Commission shall, without delay, submit to the Council a proposal relating to the measures to be taken. The Council shall act by a qualified majority.
If the Council has not acted within three months of the date of the referral to it, the Commission shall adopt the measures proposed.’;
the Annex shall be replaced by the Annex hereto.
Member States shall lay down the system of penalties for breaching the national provisions adopted pursuant to this Directive and shall take all the measures necessary to ensure that those penalties are applied. The penalties thus provided for shall be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. Member States shall notify the relevant provisions to the Commission not later than 1 March 1999 and shall notify any subsequent changes as soon as possible.
1.Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by 1 March 1999. They shall immediately inform the Commission thereof.
When Member States adopt these measures, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or shall be accompanied by such reference at the time of their official publication. The procedure for such reference shall be adopted by Member States.
2.In accordance with Article 168 of the 1994 Act of Accession and Annex XIX (III) thereto, Austria shall put into effect the measures necessary to comply with this Directive by 1 April 2002.
This Directive shall enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
This Directive is addressed to the Member States.
Done at Brussels, 30 March 1998.
For the Council
The President
Lord Simon of Highbury