The purpose of this Bill is to provide for implementation by Ireland of the Protocol amending the International Convention relating to co-operation for the Safety of Air Navigation, commonly known as "Eurocontrol Convention" together with the new multilateral agreement on route charges.
The Eurocontrol International Convention relating to co-operation for the Safety of Air Navigation was signed on 13 December 1960. The convention was brought into effect in Ireland by the Air Navigation (Eurocontrol) Act, 1963. The main reasons for the establishment of the Eurocontrol Organisation lay in the new requirements of air traffic control — the growing number of aircraft flying at higher speeds, the pace at which the aeronautical sciences were advancing and the greater inter-dependence of the industrialised countries of western Europe. All pointed to joint action as a means of producing a multinational concept of air traffic control at high altitude — above either 20,000 or 25,000 feet.
The organisation initially consisted of six members — Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, the Federal Republic of Germany and the United Kingdom. Ireland became the seventh member in January 1965. Technical or co-operation agreements have been concluded with a number of non-member states including Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, Portugal, Austria and the United States.
The organisation has its headquarters in Brussels. The organisation is composed of two bodies; the permanent commission, a deliberative body, and the Air Traffic Services Agency, an executive body. The Permanent Commission formulates common policies on certain matters relating to air traffic control and also exercises the power of general supervision of the agency's activities. Member states are represented on the commission by Ministers. The office of the President of the Permanent Commission is assumed by the representatives of the member states in turn for a period of one year. The Irish Minister has held the office of President of the Permanent Commission for two periods, that is to say from July 1969 to June 1970 and from July 1976 to June 1977. The Minister for Transport, Deputy Jim Mitchell, has been appointed President of the Permanent Commission for the year beginning 1 January 1984.
The agency is administered by a Committee of Management and a director general assisted by an international staff. The director general is at the head of all the agency's services and in conjunction with the Committee of Management is responsible for the general administration of the agency. The present Director General, Mr. Horst Flentje of the Federal Republic of Germany, took up his appointment on 1 July 1983 for a five year period.
The original purpose of the Eurocontrol Convention was to provide a common system of air traffic control in the upper airspace — that is to say above 20,000-25,000 feet — of member states. This was achieved through an air traffic control organisation which had legal responsibility for the provision of air traffic services in the upper airspaces. In Ireland's case new operational facilities were communally financed through Eurocontrol's budget and the Department of Transport provided the staff to operate these facilities under a bilateral agreement with Eurocontrol. Certain other member states — the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands — also operated services through bilateral agreements.
Under the Eurocontrol Convention the facilities that were provided in Ireland under the common financing system were the Shannon Upper Airspace Control Centre and the Mount Gabriel County Cork, and Woodcock Hill, County Clare Secondary Surveillance Radar Stations. We were obliged to provide these facilities by virtue of our membership of the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
In 1971 Ireland decided to participate in an international scheme under the aegis of Eurocontrol to collect charges from airlines for the use by them of enroute air navigation services provided by us. The Air Navigation (Eurocontrol) Act, 1971 provided for the payment of a single charge by aircraft operators for en-route air navigation facilities, other than aerodrome navigation services. The charges are made payable by the operators in US dollars to Eurocontrol which, by virtue of a bilateral agreement made between Ireland and that organisation has undertaken to refund to this country the amount of the charges collected in respect of the services made available in Irish airspace, less the cost of collection. Similar agreements exist with the other states in the route charges system which are the seven states of Eurocontrol plus Austria, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. In 1982 our route charges receipts amounted to £9.5 million and the receipts in 1983 exceed £11 million.
One of the major differences between the present and the new convention is that all air traffic control facilities and services will be national instead of communal. At the transition date each member state will take control of the direct investments, for example, upper airspace control centres and secondary surveillance radar stations, sited on their territories. It was agreed that the host country would "buy in" the direct investments sited on their territories at their amortised value at the transition date and that the fund thus created would be distributed among all member states in GNP proportions. However, there was sympathetic recognition on the part of all other member states of the need for special treatment for Ireland because of our important location for trans-Atlantic civil aviation and the fact that the Eurocontrol facilities in Ireland are more elaborate than those required for Ireland's own needs. The cost of installing the facilities in Ireland was about £9 million.
In our case it was agreed that the Shannon Upper Airspace Control Centre, together with the Mount Gabriel, County Cork and Woodcock Hill, County Clare, Secondary Surveillance Radar Stations would become the property of Ireland on the entry into force of the amending protocol. As these facilities were financed by the seven member states, transitional financial arrangements have been agreed to the effect that Ireland's route charges receipts will be reduced over a period of four years after 1984 in respect of the amortisation element only of the capital cost of these facilities up to a maximum of £2.5 million. Any costs incurred in the future replacement of these facilities will have to be borne by Ireland but these costs can be recovered in full from airlines under the route charges system.
The principle changes in the role and activities of Eurocontrol proposed in the amending protocol are as follows:
(a) The organisation's responsibilities for the planning of air traffic services will be extended to the whole airspace, not just the upper airspace — above 20,000-25,000 feet — as at present. The primary task of Eurocontrol will thus become the development of the air traffic control system in the member states according to a common basic concept in such a way that the national plans are effectively co-ordinated in the medium and long term.
(b) There will no longer be any obligation on the part of member states to transfer responsibilities for air traffic services to the organisation. This has no relevance for Ireland as we had not handed over executive functions under the old convention.
(c) The current programme for the communal financing of expenditure on operational facilities in the member states will be discontinued. It is considered that the implementation of this communal finance system has proved to be extremely complex and the effort devoted to it has hampered concentration on the organisation's real role in the development of air traffic services.
(d) Eurocontrol will play a key role in the development and operation of a European system of air traffic flow management, in collaboration with the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
(e) The Eurocontrol route charges system will continue on its present lines. The new multilateral agreement on route charges has been signed by the seven member states and the four non-member states now associated with the system, Australia, Portugal, Switzerland and Spain.
During its 20 years of existence, Eurocontrol has established an experimental centre at Bretigny near Paris which undertakes studies, tests and simulations on behalf of Eurocontrol to improve efficiency of ATC. It has also set up an Institute of Air Navigation in Luxembourg which undertakes the training of ATC controllers and assistant controllers and which carries out work in connection with data handling, information, analyses, programming and maintenance. Air traffic control centres and secondary surveillance radar stations have been set up at Brussels, London, Shannon, Maastricht in Holland and Karlsruhe in Germany.
It is the intention of the states concerned that the Maastricht Air Traffic Control Centre, which at present controls the upper airspace of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Hannover area of Northern Germany, will in the next couple of years assume control of total air traffic control above flight level 10,000 feet in the states of Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Northern Germany.
Under the amending protocol, various powers which were vested in Eurocontrol will revert to national control. In our case these powers related to such matters as the provision of land by the Minister for the organisation, the acquisition of land and of water rights by the Minister at the request of the organisation and the obligations on aircraft operators to comply with relevant ATC authorisations.
This Bill effectively removes the supra-national authority vested in Eurocontrol by virtue of the 1960 Convention and the Act of 1963. This supra-national authority was never given full effect in Ireland and the facilities provided and owned by Eurocontrol were operated by the Minister under bilateral agreement. Provision is also made in this Bill to give effect to Articles 18 and 23 of the protocol which relate to the inviolability of persons and documents in the course of their duties connected with Eurocontrol and to Article 22.7 which makes special provisions in relation to the position of the director general of the agency.
Article 36 of the protocol provides that states which accede to the convention shall also become parties to the multilateral agreement on route charges. This Agreement continues in force a system — introduced in a multilateral agreement of 1971 — under which Eurocontrol acts as agent in the collection of route charges for navigational aids.
The new multilateral agreement introduces provisions stating that a legal decision taken in a contracting state against a user of the system who has defaulted in the payment of route charges shall be recognisable and enforceable in other contracting states. Provision is made in the Bill to amend the Air Navigation (Eurocontrol) Act, 1971 so as to implement Articles 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 which contain the provisions on recognition and enforcement.
The opportunity is also being taken to up-date the level of penalties provided for in the Air Navigation (Eurocontrol) Act, 1963 and the Air Navigation (Eurocontrol) Act, 1971. The remaining amendments are editorial in nature. I recommend this Bill strongly to the Seanad.