Israel, Mauritius and Malaysia apply for European liquids recognition

Gavin Lipsith

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Three more countries join the list of those seeking approval of their airport security measures to allow passengers to transfer at European airports with their liquid purchases

Israel, Malaysia and Mauritius have applied to the European Commission for recognition of their airport security standards for liquids, aerosols and gels (LAGs), bringing the total number of countries to seek recognition to eight. The three countries—along with Australia, Singapore, Croatia, Argentina and Dubai—are hoping to gain approval that would allow passengers from those countries to transfer at European airports and retain liquids purchased in their originating airports.

Israel is the most surprising of the three new applicants as it had previously not recognised the Commission’s competence to negotiate on behalf of the 27 member states on air transport matters, and so was ineligible for approval. But European Travel Retail Council secretary general Keith Spinks told RavenFox.com that, after progress in aviation negotiations between the two parties, Israel was now eligible and had submitted its request for recognition.

Malaysia has applied to the Commission and has also submitted an extensive dossier detailing how it applies the International Civil Aviation Organization’s guidelines on LAGs security at its airport. Spinks said he hoped the dossier would speed up the approval process.

“This shows that we are gathering momentum,” said Spinks, “but the message is that we still need more countries on the list, and retailers and suppliers should still be putting pressure on their governments to apply for recognition.”

Meanwhile the European Commission has conducted its audit of Singapore and is expected to grant approval to the country within six weeks, Spinks reported.