Aug. 11, 2011, Ottawa - The National Airlines Council of Canada (NACC)
representing Air Canada, Air Transat, Jazz Aviation LP and WestJet calls
on the European Union (EU) to suspend application of its Emissions
Trading Scheme (ETS) to aviation in favour of a global solution agreed
upon by all affected parties.
"The extra-territorial scope and application of the EU ETS violates fundamental principles of international customary and treaty law," said George Petsikas, President of the NACC. "Suspending the application of the ETS on aviation is appropriate given the flawed and illegal nature of this initiative, which in actual fact undermines global efforts to combat climate change."
In 2010, the NACC and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) joined a judicial challenge by the US Air Transport Association (ATA) as formal interveners opposing the EU ETS. The argumentswere heard by the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg on July 5, 2011. The main thrust of the challenge is based on the airline industry's near-unanimous view that the extra-territorial scope and application of the EU ETS violates fundamental principles of international customary and treaty law, and in particular numerous provisions of the Chicago Convention, the EU-US Open Skies Agreement, the Canada-EU Air Transport Agreement and the Kyoto Protocol, among others.
"Piecemeal regulation as proposed by the European Union is not a solution to reducing aircraft emissions on a global scale," asserts Mr. Petsikas. "Only through a coherent, multilateral framework based on principles of mutuality and sovereign non-interference can the aviation industry address environmental threats. To that end, the NACC supports a global approach led by the International Civil Aviation Organization."
The National Airlines Council of Canada is a trade association founded by Canada's largest commercial airlines in order to ensure safe, sustainable and competitive air travel for Canadian consumers.
|
