•
Subsidiarity (for non-exclusive competence)
The provisions of the Agreement will prevail over the relevant provisions of the existing
arrangements made by individual Member States. The Agreement creates simultaneously for
all European Union air carriers' equal and uniform conditions for market access, and
establishes new arrangements for regulatory co-operation and convergence between the
European Union and Qatar in fields essential for the safe, secure, and efficient operation of air
services. These arrangements can only be achieved at Union level.
Union action will better achieve the objectives of the proposal for the following reasons.
The Agreement allows for the simultaneous extension of its terms to the 28 Member States,
applying the same rules without discrimination and benefiting all Union air carriers regardless
of their nationality. It includes comprehensive provisions on subsidies, anticompetitive
practices and transparency and robust mechanisms to enforce them, thereby contributing to a
level playing field for air services between the EU and Qatar, and between the EU and other
destinations, for example in Asia, operated via Qatar. None of the existing bilateral air
services agreements of Member States includes comparable provisions.
The Agreement further secures for all Union air carriers access to commercial opportunities,
such as the ones relating to ground-handling, code-sharing, inter-modality, the possibility to
freely establish prices and removes the requirement for Union air carriers to work with a local
sponsor to establish local offices in Qatar. It also includes provisions on social matters in line
with those included in EU international trade agreements, committing the Parties to improve
the social and labour policies as per their international commitments, notably the in the
context of the International Labour Organization (ILO). None of the existing bilateral air
services agreements of Member States includes comparable provisions.
•
Proportionality
A Joint Committee, composed of representatives of the Commission and the Member States
and of Qatar, has been established to discuss matters related to the implementation of the
Agreement. The Joint Committee thereby fosters expert-level exchanges and may consider
potential areas for further development of the Agreement.
Furthermore, Member States continue to carry out the traditional administrative tasks they
execute in the context of international air transport, but under common rules applied
uniformly.
•
Choice of the instrument
International agreement.
3.
RESULTS
OF
EX-POST
EVALUATIONS,
STAKEHOLDER
CONSULTATIONS AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS
•
Ex-post evaluations/fitness checks of existing legislation
Not applicable.
Stakeholder consultations
•
In line with Article 218(4) TFEU, the Commission has conducted the negotiations in
consultation with a special committee. Stakeholders from the entire aviation value chain and
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