Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/317Show full title

Article 29 Setting unit rates for charging zones

1. Member States shall set a unit rate for each charging zone on an annual basis in accordance with Article 25. Without prejudice to paragraph 3, unit rates shall not be modified in the course of a year.

2. Member States shall set a unit rate for year n for each charging zone in line with the following requirements:

(a) national supervisory authorities shall submit, on behalf of their respective Member State, the calculated unit rate to the Commission and to the CRCO of Eurocontrol by 1 June of year n-1. This submission shall include the reporting tables and additional information set out in Annex VII and Annex IX;

(b) before 1 November of year n-1, if needed, national supervisory authorities shall update the calculated unit rate referred to in point (a), following consultation with airspace users. They shall submit this calculated updated unit rate, on behalf of their respective Member State, to the Commission and the CRCO of Eurocontrol, at the latest by 1 November of year n-1;

(c) Member States shall set the unit rate for year n at the latest by 20 December of year n-1 and inform the Commission and the CRCO of Eurocontrol of that rate.

3. The Commission shall verify that the unit rates referred to in paragraph 2 are calculated in compliance with the requirements set out in Article 25(2).

Where the Commission finds that a unit rate does not comply with the requirements set out in Article 25(2), it shall notify the Member State concerned and invite it to submit a revised unit rate.

Where the Commission finds that the revised unit rate are calculated in compliance with the requirements set out in Article 25(2), it shall notify the Member State concerned accordingly.

4. Where, as a consequence of the time needed to complete the procedure referred to in paragraph 3, a unit rate for year n is revised after the start of the year to which it relates and such revision causes a difference in revenues, the unit rate shall be adjusted as follows:

(a) a first adjustment of the unit rate in the year following the revision of the unit rate, and

(b) a final adjustment of the unit rate two years after that year.

5. If Member States have not adopted a performance plan before the start of the reference period, or where the performance plan is revised in accordance with Article 18 during the reference period, the unit rates shall, where necessary, be recalculated and applied as soon as possible on the basis of the adopted performance plan or adopted revised performance plan.

Where a performance plan is adopted after the start of the reference period, any difference in revenue due to the application of the unit rate or unit rates calculated on the basis of the draft performance plan, instead of the unit rate or unit rates calculated on the basis of the adopted performance plan, shall result in a first adjustment of the unit rate in the year following the adoption of the performance plan and a final adjustment of the unit rate two years after that year. The provisions of Articles 27 and 28 shall be applied on the basis of the adopted performance plan and shall apply retroactively as from the first day of the reference period.

Where a performance plan is revised during the reference period in accordance with Article 18, any difference in revenue due to the application of the unit rate or unit rates calculated on the basis of the adopted performance plan, instead of the unit rate or unit rates calculated on the basis of the adopted revised performance plan, shall result in a first adjustment of the unit rate in the year following the adoption of the revised performance plan and a final adjustment of the unit rate two years after that year. The provisions of Articles 27 and 28 shall be applied on the basis of the adopted revised performance plan and shall apply retroactively as from the first day of the year to which the revised performance plan applies.

6. By derogation from Article 25(2), Member States may decide to set the unit rate referred to in paragraph 1 at a level lower than the unit rate calculated in accordance with Article 25(2). In that case, they shall include that lower unit rate in the reporting tables on unit rates calculation in accordance with the template of Table 2 of Annex IX. The resulting difference in revenues shall not be recovered from airspace users.