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General In accordance with the requirements of Articles 15 and 16, a charging scheme for air navigation services shall be developed that contributes to the achievement of greater transparency with respect to the determination, imposition and enforcement of charges to airspace users. This scheme shall also be consistent with Article 15 of the 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation and with Eurocontrol's charging system for en route charges.
Principles 1. The charging scheme shall be based on the account of costs for air navigation services incurred by service providers for the benefit of airspace users. The scheme shall allocate these costs among categories of users. 2. The following principles shall be applied when establishing the cost-base for charges: (a) the cost to be shared among airspace users shall be the full cost of providing air navigation services, including appropriate amounts for interest on capital investment and depreciation of assets, as well as the costs of maintenance, operation, management and administration; (b) the costs to be taken into account in this context shall be those assessed in relation to the facilities and services provided for and implemented under the ICAO Regional Air Navigation Plan, European Region. They may also include costs incurred by national supervisory authorities and/or recognised organisations, as well as other costs incurred by the relevant Member State and service provider in relation to the provision of air navigation services; (c) the cost of different air navigation services shall be identified separately, as provided for in Article 12(3); (d) cross-subsidy between different air navigation services shall be allowed only when justified for objective reasons, and subject to clear identification; (e) transparency of the cost-base for charges shall be guaranteed. Implementing rules for the provision of information by the service providers shall be adopted in order to permit reviews of the provider's forecasts, actual costs and revenues. Information shall be regularly exchanged between the national supervisory authorities, service providers, airspace users, the Commission and Eurocontrol. 3. Without prejudice to Eurocontrol's charging system for en route charges, Member States shall comply with the following principles when setting charges in accordance with paragraph 2: (a) charges shall be set for the availability of air navigation services under non-discriminatory conditions. When imposing charges on different airspace users for the use of the same service, no distinction shall be made in relation to the nationality or category of the user; (b) exemption of certain users, especially light aircraft and State aircraft, may be permitted, provided that the cost of such exemption is not passed on to other users; (c) air navigation services may produce sufficient revenues to exceed all direct and indirect operating costs and to provide for a reasonable return on assets to contribute towards necessary capital improvements; (d) charges shall reflect the cost of air navigation services and facilities made available to airspace users, taking into account the relative productive capacities of the different aircraft types concerned; (e) charges shall encourage the safe, efficient and effective provision of air navigation services with a view to a high level of safety and to cost efficiency and shall stimulate integrated service provision. To that effect, such charges may be used to provide: - mechanisms, including incentives consisting of financial advantages and disadvantages, to encourage air navigation service providers and/or airspace users to support improvements in air traffic flow management such as increased capacity and reduction of delays, while maintaining an optimum safety level. The decision as to whether to apply such mechanisms remains the sole responsibility of each Member State, - revenues to benefit projects designed to assist specific categories of airspace users and/or air navigation service providers in order to improve collective air navigation infrastructures, the provision of air navigation services and the use of airspace. 4. The implementing rules in the fields covered by paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 shall be established in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 8 of the framework Regulation.
Review of charges 1. The Commission shall provide for the ongoing review of compliance with the principles and rules referred to in Articles 14 and 15, acting in cooperation with the Member States. The Commission shall endeavour to establish the necessary mechanisms for making use of Eurocontrol expertise. 2. At the request of one or more Member States which consider that the abovementioned principles and rules have not been properly applied, or on its own initiative, the Commission shall carry out an investigation on any allegation of non-compliance or non-application of the principles and/or rules concerned. Within two months of receipt of a request, after having heard the Member State concerned and after consulting the Single Sky Committee in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 5(2) of the framework Regulation, the Commission shall take a decision on the application of Articles 14 and 15 and as to whether the practice concerned may continue. 3. The Commission shall address its decision to the Member States and inform the service provider thereof, in so far as it is legally concerned. Any Member State may refer the Commission's decision to the Council within one month. The Council, acting by a qualified majority, may take a different decision within a period of one month. CHAPTER IV FINAL PROVISIONS
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