Liberalisation of access to the ground handling market

United Kingdom

The Commission has decided to give to the airports of Berlin-Tegel and Paris-Charles de Gaulle limited exemptions from the liberalisation of ground handling laid down by Directive 96/67. The request for exemption was notified to the Commission at the end of January. The 1996 European legislation sets out the timetable for the liberalisation of ground handling services at airports with a minimum of 1 to 3 million passengers a year or at least 25,000 to 75,000 tonnes of freight, but provides for a temporary derogation in case of very specific constraints.

The Commission limited the exemption to the activities for which it has been proved that space and capacity constraints exist and make it impossible to open up the market to the level required by the EU rules. The other ground handling activities will be open to competition according to the requirements of the Directive.