Stop selling liquids to European transfer passengers, says APTRA

Gavin Lipsith

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The Asia Pacific Travel Retail Association has urged the region’s retailers to refrain from selling liquids to passengers transferring at European airports

The Asia Pacific Travel Retail Association (APTRA) has issued a release to its members urging the region’s retailers not to sell liquids, aerosols and gels (LAGs) to passengers transferring at European airports, even after several Asian countries introduced the restrictions recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization on March 1.

The new regulations, in line with those already in place in the European Community since November 6 2006, means that the countries may introduce tamper-evident bags for LAGs purchased at airside duty-free stores. APTRA reported that “while there may be some flexibility for bilateral agreements within Asia/Pacific, it is clear that even if duty-free goods are placed within a state-approved, tamper-evident bag, Europe does not recognise these bags.”

APTRA urged airports and retailers to remind their retail staff "not to sell to any passenger transiting within Europe as all LAGs will continue to be confiscated”.

The call to reason comes after it emerged that several non-European duty-free operators are still selling duty-free goods to passengers transferring in Europe, even though they will have liquids over 100ml confiscated on transfer. The phenomenon is resulting in high levels of confiscations at European airports, with Frankfurt, Amsterdam Schiphol and Madrid Barajas all confiscating over 1,000 litres of duty-free LAGs daily.

APTRA president Rakhita Jayawardena said that he and the APTRA board will continue to encourage members to keep up the pressure on securing bilateral security protocols with the European Union, and argued that to speed up the process Europe should also start to pursue bilateral negotiations with Asia/Pacific countries.