The Committee on Transport and Tourism adopted the report by Cláudia MONTEIRO DE AGUIAR (EPP, PT) on the draft Council decision on the conclusion on behalf of the Union of the Agreement between the European Union and Japan on certain provisions of the air service agreements between Member States of the European Union and Japan.
The committee responsible recommended that the European Parliament give its consent to the conclusion of the agreement.
The Commission has negotiated an agreement with Japan to replace certain provisions in the already existing bilateral air services agreements between Member States and Japan in order to bring the bilateral air services agreements in line with EU law, as requested by the Court of Justice in the so-called “Open Skies” cases of 2002.
On this basis, the Agreement will bring the bilateral air services agreements between 13 Member States (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden) and Japan in line with the EU law.
The Agreement provides all EU air carriers non-discriminatory access to routes between the European Union and Japan. Article 2 of the Agreement replaces the traditional designation clauses with an EU designation clause, permitting all EU carriers to benefit from the right of establishment: any EU carrier can fly from any Member State that has a bilateral agreement with Japan where unused traffic rights are available.