Draft regulation aims to exempt non-EU airlines from liquids restrictions

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Legislation under draft by the European Commission would allow approved third-country carriers to sell liquids to passengers transferring in Europe

The European Commission is drafting a regulation which, if approved, would allow applicable non-EU airlines to sell liquids to passengers transferring at European airports. At the moment those passengers risk having their purchases confiscated if they buy them from non-EU carriers.

Association of Asia Pacific Airlines industry affairs manager Winnifred Yoong reported that the regulation would “extend the possibility of exemption now available to liquids purchased at third-country airports to liquids purchased on board aircraft operated by third-country carriers”. She said that a first draft of the regulation would be presented to the Commission’s security advisory committee at the end of October.

European Travel Retail Council secretary general Keith Spinks told RavenFox.com that the airline legislation was being drafted following the approval of the regulations on accepting liquids sales at third-country airports who concur with supply chain security standards and use the sealed tamper-evident bag system proposed by the International Civil Aviation Organization. He said that under the regulations, airlines from countries where airports had met the standards would be eligible for recognition.

The airline regulation is unlikely to be passed this year, though. Spinks said that the earliest opportunity for the regulation to be presented to the security advisory committee would be on October 24. After that it will take six weeks to pass through the internal consultation process, then if approved will be published in the Commission’s official journal no less than 12 days after that, and will come into effect 20 days after being published.