Giving wings to emission trading

• The operation and navigation of civil aircraft on domestic flights fall outsidethe scope of the Convention.
• The Chicago Convention does not address the issue of emission trading. But,according to its Preamble, the Chicago Convention relates also to establishing international air transport services on the basis of equality of opportunity and sound and economical operation. As emissions trading might in principle have implications in this respect, it is relevant to assess whether the Convention contains any requirements or obstacles with regard to the coverage of international flights by an EU emissions trading scheme.
• As outlined in section B, the EU emissions trading scheme can be considered to constitute laws and regulations relating to the admission to and/or departure of aircraft from its territory pursuant to Article 11 of the Convention. Therefore, the requirement in Article 11 of the Convention not to discriminate as to nationality of aircraft needs to be respected. Any EU emissions trading system must thus treat all aircraft engaged in international air navigation without distinction as to nationality.
• The coverage of international aviation under the EU emissions trading scheme does not find limits under Article 12 “Rules of the air”, Article 15 “Airport and similar charges” or Article 24 “Customs duty” of the Convention.

The study can be downloaded at ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/pdf/aviation_et_study.pdf