ETRC meets New Zealand, Qatar and Oman over LAGs

Gavin Lipsith

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European Travel Retail Council president Frank O’Connell has met ambassadors to discuss the process for European recognition of liquids security standards at the three countries’ airports

European Travel Retail Council (ETRC) president Frank O’Connell has met the New Zealand, Qatar and Oman ambassadors to the European Union for a third time to discuss how the countries could proceed with gaining recognition of their airports’ liquids security standards, allowing retailers there to sell liquids to passengers transferring through EU airports.

O’Connell said that all the meetings had been productive, and he reiterated his call for countries that have not yet applied to register with the European Commission for full recognition.

It has now been almost four months since Singapore was the first country to gain recognition from the European Commission, and O’Connell said that he hoped an announcement would be made soon about a second country’s recognition. But he admitted that progress had not been as fast as he had hoped and urged his industry colleagues to pressurise their governments into acting quickly.

ETRC said it would be meeting diplomatic representations of interested countries on a regular basis.