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TIACA’s Market Liberalization Position Endorsed at ICAO Conference
| Date: |
Summer 2003 |
| Author: |
Daniel C. Fernandez, Secretary General, TIACA |
| Source: |
TIACA Times |
A strong global consensus on a framework for the economic liberalization of the air transport industry emerged out of the Worldwide Air Transport Conference: "Challenges and Opportunities of Liberalization,” held by the International Civil Aviation Organization at its Montreal Headquarters from March 24 to 28.
Some 800 participants from 145 ICAO Contracting States and 29 organizations, including TIACA, concluded the Conference by approving by acclamation a Declaration of Global Principles to “create an environment in which international air transport may develop and flourish in a stable, efficient and economical manner without compromising safety and security and while respecting social and labor standards.”
The Declaration specifies the individual and collective roles and responsibilities of States in working towards the ultimate goal of giving international air transport as much economic freedom as possible, in keeping with the needs of the travelling public and the industry, while respecting its specific characteristics and striving to limit its environmental impact.
Conclusions and Recommendations were agreed to by consensus of the Conference on key liberalization issues including air carrier ownership and control, market access, fair competition and safeguards, consumer interests, product distribution, dispute resolution and transparency. A full text of the Declaration, Conclusions and Recommendations is available on the ICAO website - www.icao.int.
TIACA’s Observer Status at the Conference afforded us the opportunity to submit a Working Paper. Two types of working papers were presented at the conference, those calling for a specific action by the conference and those that were merely submitted for reference only. TIACA’s was an action paper, which recommended that states consider the accelerated liberalization of air cargo and in particular all-cargo operations. Larry Coyne was given the opportunity to summarize our case in a brief address before the Contracting States at the conference. Along with TIACA and ICAO, the following states and organizations with observer status submitted working papers advocating similar goals: India, Republic of Korea, Singapore, USA, African States and ACI. The Conference Conclusions and Recommendations must now be approved by the ICAO Council, probably at its June meeting.
It may be recalled that at the AGM in Reims, there was some discussion that a differing viewpoint was going to be presented by the OECD and IATA at the ICAO Conference. Surprisingly, the OECD paper on market access for air cargo was available only as a reference document, unlike TIACA's which called for action by the Contracting States. By ICAO conference rules, the OECD working paper was not recognized by the chairman for presentation to the States and was consequently not part of the proceedings. Another surprise was the lack of a working paper on air cargo liberalization from IATA. They did present a paper in a different section of the proceedings, but it made no mention of cargo. Actually, the view that air cargo should be liberalized regardless of whether it's carried by a passenger airline or a freighter was not even presented as an action for consideration by the conference.
However, during the course of his presentation, Larry Coyne emphasized that the liberalization of all-cargo was only an intermediate step and that TIACA's ultimate goal was to liberalize air cargo in all its forms. The conference's general support for the liberalization of all-cargo (i.e. freighters) must now be recognized as the most promising. IATA's silence on the issue leaves TIACA and ACI as the organizations with a view that is concordant with that of the majority of the states and ICAO. We will now seek to find ways to capitalize on our progress so that the momentum is not lost.
ICAO's role in navigational issues is legislative, it plays a recommendatory role in air transport issues like this one. It will be up to each state to adopt the Conclusions and Recommendations of the Conference after they are approved by the Council.
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