Retaliation may
be in the form of limiting over-flights, slowing orders for aircraft
Beijing, June
12:
The
International Air Transport Association (IATA) warned on Tuesday that some
countries may be on the brink of launching a retaliatory trade war against the
decision of the European Union to include air travel in the emission trading
scheme. The new scheme came into effect from January 1 this year.
“I think we are
on the brink of something like that (retaliatory trade war) happening. There
have been warning signs that states may be looking in terms of slowing down
approvals for purchase of new aircraft from European manufacturers, to limiting
the number of over-flights,” said Mr Paul Steele, IATA's Director, Aviation
Environment.
IATA officials
indicated that there were many different approaches that the 30 countries
opposing the move may choose.
“We want to
avoid that (retaliatory trade war) and are calling on all parties to get back
on the table in the International Civil Aviation Organisation and hammer out a
solution. We hope very much that some progress on that will be made in the next
few months. It is an extremely charged situation right now,” Mr Steele added.
Global fight
India, China,
Russia, and to some extent, the US are in the forefront of the global fight
against the imposition of the EU Emission Trading Scheme.
The EU-ETS
requires airlines flying into Europe to pay a carbon credit tax. What is
angering the global governments is that the amount of tax that has to be paid
is also measured for the portion of the flight that takes place outside Europe.
So, airlines
from India will have to pay the tax from the time they start their engines in
India till they land in Europe. IATA officials indicated that those opposed to
the EU-ETS were looking to Europe to take some “tangible steps” back from the
implementation plan as it stands right now.
They added that
there were certain milestones which had to be viewed very carefully. “April 30,
2013 is when airlines are supposed to surrender emission permits to their
competent authorities. In the international negotiations, the next big meeting
is in September-October next year,” officials said.
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