Council Directive 96 /67/EC of 15 October on access to the market for groundhandling at Community airports establishes the common framework for the provision of such services in the Member States. members. The Community rule is part of the essential character of groundhandling for the proper functioning of air transport and the efficient use of airport infrastructure and is geared towards opening up to the market on the free market. competence, progressively and adapted to the needs of the sector.

The additional provision of Law 66/1997 of 30 December 1997 on fiscal, administrative and social measures initiated the incorporation into the Spanish law of Directive 96 /67/EC by determining the criteria in accordance with which restrictions on the provision of the groundhandling service to aircraft, passengers and goods, as well as the right to self-handling at Spanish airports and authorising the Government to establish the assumptions and conditions under which the declaration of public service obligation in the provision of such service.

This Royal Decree complies with the aforementioned legal precept and completes the receipt of Directive 96 /67/EC.

In the same way, the requirements for the exercise of assistance services at airports of general interest are laid down, with certain exceptions, the arrangements for the provision of such services are liberalised, regulate the cases in which, because of the available space, the capacity, safety and other conditions of an airport, the number of agents or users providing assistance services is to be limited and is entrusted to the Spanish Airports and Air Navigation (AENA) the management of the airport infrastructure which, due to its complexity, economic cost or environmental impact, should be maintained under the responsibility of the airport authority.

In its virtue, on the proposal of the Minister of Public Works, with the prior approval of the Minister of Public Administrations, in agreement with the Council of State and after deliberation of the Council of Ministers at its meeting of July 2 of 1999,

DISPONGO:

Article 1. Object and scope of application.

This Royal Decree aims to regulate the provision of groundhandling services at airports of general interest.

When one of the freight transport thresholds referred to in Articles 3 and 4 is reached at an airport, but not for the carriage of passengers, the provisions of this Royal Decree shall not apply in respect of refers to the categories of assistance services reserved for passengers only.

Article 2. Definitions.

For the purposes of this Royal Decree is understood by:

(a) User of an airport: any natural or legal person who transports by air passengers, mail or cargo with origin or destination at that airport.

(b) Land assistance: the services provided to a user at an airport as described in the Annex.

(c) ramp services: are the services that are essentially provided on the airport ramp and constitute the categories of groundhandling services, as described in the Annex, as follows:

1. No. Luggage Assistance.

2. º Assistance to Track Operations.

3. Fuel and lubricant assistance.

4. No. Loading and mail assistance regarding the physical handling of cargo and mail between the airport terminal and the aircraft, either on arrival or at departure or in transit.

(d) Self-handling on land: a situation in which a user is directly, himself, one or more categories of assistance services, without having to conclude with a third party any contract, whatever his name, the name of which is the provision of such services. A user will not be considered third with respect to another user when:

1. º One of them has a participation of more than 50 per 100 of the capital of the other.

2. º A single entity has a share of more than 50 per 100 of the capital of each.

e) Land assistance agent: any natural or legal person providing third parties with one or more categories of groundhandling services.

(f) Third country: a country which does not belong to the European Union or which, in the field of air transport, has not concluded agreements with the European Union which could be assimilated to the status of a Member State.

Article 3. Self-handling.

1. Users who have the enabling title provided for in Article 9 may practice self-handling on land for all the services listed in the Annex, other than on ramp, at all airports of general interest.

2. By Order of the Minister of Public Works, on the proposal of the business public entity Airports Spanish and Air Navigation (AENA), it may be limited, up to a minimum of two, the number of authorized users to practice self-handling for one or more of the categories of ramp services, at airports whose annual traffic is equal to or greater than one million passenger movements or to 25,000 tonnes of cargo carried by air. The limitations must be justified for reasons of space, capacity, operation and safety of the airport enclosures or for the other causes listed in the provision added to the 40th of Law 66/1997, of 30 December, Fiscal, administrative and social order measures.

3. At airports which do not meet the transport thresholds specified in paragraph 2, AENA may authorise the practice of self-handling for users only when the physical characteristics of the installations, their conditions of use use and safety of the aircraft and aircraft so permit.

If the number of users interested is higher than the capacity of the airport, AENA will make the selection by giving priority to those who have reached the highest volume of commercial operations at the airport in the year immediately before.

Article 4. Assistance to third parties.

1. Groundhandling agents established in a Member State of the European Union or in a State party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, authorised in accordance with Article 9, may provide services of assistance to third parties, other than ramp services, at airports of general interest.

2. At airports whose annual traffic is greater than one million passengers or 25,000 tonnes of cargo carried by aircraft, the number of groundhandling agents which may provide the categories of ramp services shall be limited to two. by service category. At airports whose annual traffic is lower than the above indicated there will be a single agent providing ramp services to third parties.

3. Under the Order of the Minister for Public Works, on a proposal from AENA, the number of agents may be progressively increased when conditions at airports permit. To this end, AENA shall annually raise a report to the Ministry of Public Works on the evolution of the quality of groundhandling services, as well as the corresponding prices.

Article 5. Centralised management infrastructure.

1. It is for AENA to manage airport infrastructure, such as baggage sorting, frost cleaning, water purification or fuel distribution, which will be used to provide groundhandling services and the complexity, cost or impact on the environment do not allow for division or duplication. AENA may require groundhandling agents and users to engage in self-handling of the use of such infrastructure.

2. Groundhandling agents and self-handling users shall not be able to use equipment, systems or elements for the provision of alternative or alternative land support services for the infrastructure to which they are located. refers to this article.

3. AENA shall manage the reserved infrastructure in a transparent, objective and non-discriminatory manner, facilitating access to the infrastructure of the assistance agents and users engaged in self-handling.

Article 6. Exceptions.

1. Where, at an airport or in part of it, there are objective constraints on the availability of space or capacity of the facilities, in particular for reasons of congestion or the level of use of the area of the airport enclosure, which make the provision of groundhandling services impossible in accordance with Articles 3 and 4, the Secretary of State for Infrastructure and Transport may agree:

(a) Reserve the self-handling exercise for one or more services listed in the Annex, other than those for ramp services, to a limited number of users, selected on the basis of criteria relevant, objective, transparent and non-discriminatory.

b) Banning or limiting to a single user the exercise of self-handling for one or more categories of ramp services.

c) Limit the number of groundhandling agents for the provision of one or more categories of services listed in the Annex, other than those for ramp services.

d) Reserve to a single agent the provision of one or more categories of ramp services.

2. The resolution of the Secretary of State for Infrastructure and Transport will be adopted on the proposal of AENA, which will carry out a consultation with the Committee of Users of the affected airport. AENA's proposal will include the following:

a) The airport or part of the airport where the exception is to be applied.

b) The category or categories of services for which the exception is proposed and the specific space or capacity constraints available to justify it.

c) Plan of measures intended to overcome the limitations that motivate the exception.

(d) Number of groundhandling agents authorised to provide such services and airport users authorised to self-assist in relation to the categories of services concerned.

(e) Period of application of the limitation and the expected date for its application.

3. The limitations or reservations adopted in accordance with paragraph 1 shall not unduly prejudice the free access to the provision of groundhandling services, shall not lead to distortions of competition between operators of such services. assistance or users, nor will they have greater extent than required.

4. The Ministry of Public Works, through the competent authority, shall notify the European Commission of the exceptions undertaken, at least three months before the date on which they are to be applied, together with the measures envisaged to overcome the limitations which the have been motivated.

5. The duration of the limitations or reservations adopted pursuant to paragraph 1 (a), (b) and (c) shall not exceed three years. The extension, beyond that period, shall be adopted in accordance with the provisions of its initial establishment.

6. The reservation to a single groundhandling agent of one or more categories of ramp services, as provided for in paragraph (d) of paragraph 1, shall not be extended for more than two years. The Secretary of State for Infrastructure and Transport, following a favourable decision by the European Commission, may extend that period for two more years when the circumstances which led to the initial decision remain.

7. The selection of the users agreed pursuant to paragraph 1 (a) and (b) shall be made by AENA in accordance with the following criteria:

1. For the category of passenger assistance: the user or users who request to exercise self-handling and who perform the largest number of passenger movements at the airport in the preceding year.

2. For cargo and mail assistance: those who have transported the highest volume of cargo with origin or destination at the airport, in the preceding year.

Article 7. User committee.

1. In all airports where the air traffic levels referred to in Article 3 (2) and Article 4 (2) are reached, a Committee of Users shall be set up, to which the users and/or the organisations concerned shall be involved. represent.

All airport users shall have the right to be part of the Committee or, at their choice, to be represented in the Committee by an organisation to which they have entrusted that function.

2. AENA shall consult, at least once a year, the Committee of Users and the groundhandling agents providing services at the airports, in relation to the measures taken to implement this Royal Decree.

The consultations shall cover, in particular, the prices of the services which have been the subject of an exemption granted in accordance with Article 6 (1) (d), to the organisation of the provision of services. of assistance, to the approved specifications to select the assistive agents in the agent and user sectionsection.

3. The reports of the Committee of Users shall be issued within a maximum of two months after they have been requested. After the same without an express pronouncement, they will be understood to be favorable to the proposals submitted by AENA.

Article 8. General requirements and standards of conduct.

1. Users of an airport engaged in self-handling and groundhandling agents providing services to third parties will be required to enter into a contract with AENA, which will in any event reflect the conditions of use of the airport. airport public domain, measures to ensure the continuity of the assistance services and the standards of conduct to be observed for the good management of the airport.

2. The rules of conduct shall be applied in a non-discriminatory manner between the assistance agents and users of each airport, shall be related to the operation of the airport and shall not, in practice, restrict the provision of services to assistance under the conditions set out in this Royal Decree.

3. By Order of the Minister for Public Works, it may be imposed on groundhandling agents to participate, in an equitable and non-discriminatory manner, in the execution of the public service obligations established for an airport and, in particular, the continuity of the service.

Article 9. Authorization.

1. The provision of groundhandling services by an agent or self-handling by a user at airports of general interest requires prior authorisation.

2. The Directorate-General for Civil Aviation is the body responsible for granting authorisations to agents and users who request it and comply with the conditions set out in the following Article.

3. The authorisations will be granted for a maximum period of seven years, but their validity will be conditional on the maintenance of the conditions that motivated their obtaining, being able to be renewed upon request by the interested party. For these purposes, the application for renewal shall be submitted at least six months before the date of expiry of the application.

Article 10. Conditions and obligations required of agents and users.

1. In order to obtain an authorisation for the provision of groundhandling or self-handling services, the persons concerned shall comply with the following general conditions:

(a) Third-party groundhandling agents must be aware of compliance with the tax or social security obligations imposed by the provisions in force.

(b) Not having been sentenced, by final judgment, to the penalties of disablement or suspension, except those imposed by facts that were not directly related to the airport activity, until the end of the criminal liability.

(c) For groundhandling agents to third parties, have not been declared bankrupt, in the contest of creditors or failed insolvent in any proceedings.

(d) Not having been sanctioned, by firm resolution to end the administrative route, for very serious violations of the protection of persons, facilities, aircraft and equipment or airport security.

e) Not having been punished for very serious or serious infractions, by means of a firm resolution that puts an end to the administrative route, in application of Law 8/1988, of April 7, on Infraactions and sanctions of the social order.

2. Authorised agents and users shall also comply with the following obligations:

(a) Dispose of a permanent establishment or establishment in Spain with adequate operational capacity for the activity they develop.

(b) Undertake a liability insurance policy covering the risks arising from the activity carried out, up to an amount to be determined for each airport, depending on the volume of the services to be provided, with a minimum of 500,000,000 pesetas.

(c) Exercise its activity in accordance with the standards of airport security, the protection of persons, facilities, equipment and aircraft and with the technical regulations on air transport safety.

(d) To keep its accounts at the accounting separation principle referred to in Article 15.

e) Respect the rules of operation of the airport in which they provide services.

f) Meet environmental protection standards, as well as applicable social legislation.

Article 11. Requests for authorization.

1. Those interested in obtaining an authorisation for the provision of groundhandling or self-handling services shall make an application to the Directorate-General for Civil Aviation, which shall be accompanied by the supporting documents. compliance with the conditions laid down in Article 10 (1).

Compliance with the conditions laid down in paragraphs (b), (c), (d) and (e) of that paragraph may be furnished by a statement responsible for the persons concerned that they are not in any of the circumstances to which they are They refer to them.

2. Applicants for authorisation to provide groundhandling services shall, in addition, provide the following documents:

(a) Certificate of registration in the Trade Register and, in the case of commercial companies, public deed in which the social statutes and the nominal ratio of the members holding at least 10 per 100 of the titles or a control participation.

(b) A copy of the annual accounts for the last financial year, audited when this is appropriate, or a forecast of the balance sheet of the profit and loss account for the following two financial years.

(c) Memory of the facilities, equipment and material and personal means, own or available, attached to the airport activity.

3. The Directorate-General for Civil Aviation may require applicants to provide, within 10 days, the additional information necessary to verify compliance with the conditions required for the granting of the authorization.

The interested parties will also be obliged to inform the Directorate General of Civil Aviation of the modifications of the conditions that have served as the basis for the authorization.

Article 12. Procedure for granting authorization.

1. The Directorate-General for Civil Aviation shall act, in a reasoned manner, and shall notify the persons concerned, in accordance with the provisions of Law No 30/1992 of 26 November 1992, of the Legal System of Public Administrations and of the Procedure Common Administrative Board, applications for authorisation within a maximum of six months from the date on which they have entered their registration.

After the maximum time limit to resolve without any express resolution, the request may be considered as estimated.

2. Against the decision of the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation, the interested parties may appeal to the Secretary of State for Infrastructure and Transport, whose resolution will put an end to the administrative route.

Article 13. Suspension and revocation of authorisations.

The failure to comply with any of the conditions or requirements that gave rise to the granting of the authorization will result in the precautionary suspension of the authorization by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the initiation of the procedure for its revocation, in which the person concerned shall be heard.

Article 14. Selection of groundhandling agents.

1. The selection of groundhandling agents for ramp services in the cases provided for in Article 4.2 and in paragraphs (c) and (d) of Article 6.1 shall be carried out in accordance with the following rules:

a) AENA, after consultation with the Committee of Users, shall approve the specification or technical specifications to which the interested parties must comply. The selection criteria laid down in the specification or technical specifications shall be appropriate, objective, transparent and non-discriminatory and shall, where appropriate, make reference to the obligation of the subrogation of the staff of the relief agent to be relieved.

(b) AENA shall convene the invitation to tender, which shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Communities, in which all interested groundhandling agents may participate.

(c) Agents of assistance shall be selected by AENA, after consultation of the Committee of Users, when they do not provide similar services at the airport and do not control, directly or indirectly, or have participation in a company providing the same services at that airport.

d) In the other cases, the selection will be made, after consultation of the Committee of Users and the AENA report, by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, which will approve the specifications or technical specifications in advance. and call for the tender.

e) Assistance agents will be selected for a period of seven years.

f) If an assisting agent ceases in its activity before the period for which it has been selected expires, it will be replaced by the same procedure.

g) The selected assisting agents must have the authorisation referred to in Article 9 and be obliged to provide the service during the period for which they were selected.

2. AENA may directly provide groundhandling services, without undergoing the selection procedure provided for in paragraph 1, or authorise another undertaking, controlled by the entity, for its provision.

3. As from 1 January 2001, at least one of the selected groundhandling agents shall be independent of AENA, of the users who during the year preceding that of the selection have transported more than 25 per 100 of the passengers or of the cargo registered at the airport and of entities that control or are controlled directly or indirectly by AENA or by that user.

4. AENA shall inform the Committee of Users of the measures taken pursuant to this Article.

5. Except in the case of derogations agreed in accordance with Article 6, AENA shall ensure that all users of an airport are eligible for the benefit of each category of ramp services, at least between two groundhandling agents.

Article 15. Accounting separation.

1. Users and agents providing groundhandling services shall be required to carry out a strict accounting separation, in accordance with accepted commercial practices and practices, between the activities of the provision of such services and their other services. activities. The same obligation shall be required of AENA when performing such services.

2. The separation of accounts shall be accredited to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, by means of audit reports carried out in accordance with Law 19/1988, of July 12, of Audit of Accounts.

3. The accounting control of AENA shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of Royal Decree 2188/1995 of 28 December 1995 for the development of the internal control system exercised by the General Intervention of the State Administration.

Article 16. Access to the facilities.

1. AENA, following the report of the Committee of Users, shall determine the rules and conditions for access and use of airport infrastructure, in such a way as to enable agents and users to effectively provide groundhandling services.

2. The available airport spaces for the provision of such services shall be distributed between groundhandling agents and self-handling users, on the basis of relevant, objective, transparent and non-transparent criteria. discriminatory.

Article 17. Reciprocity with third countries.

1. The Directorate-General for Civil Aviation may refuse to grant assistance to third-country users the right to provide groundhandling services at airports of general interest, where the authorities of such third countries countries do not recognise Spanish agents and users the right to provide such services or do not allow their effective exercise, under the same conditions as those laid down for national agents and users.

2. The Ministry of Public Works, through the competent authority, shall communicate to the European Commission the recognition or refusal made pursuant to the provisions of the previous paragraph.

Article 18. Information.

The Ministry of Public Works, through the competent authority, shall communicate to the European Commission, before 1 July of each year, the data necessary for the publication of the list of airports referred to in Article 1.4 of the Directive 96 /67/EC and provide it with precise information on the provision of groundhandling services at Spanish airports.

AENA will provide the aforementioned management body with the information necessary for the fulfilment of such obligations.

Additional disposition first. Airport capacity for the practice of self-handling.

1. At airports whose capacity allows the practice of self-handling by a number of users higher than the one who, at the beginning of the validity of this Royal Decree, has contracts in force for its exercise, the selection of new users, until the capacity limit of each airport, shall be carried out by AENA, giving priority to those which would have reached the highest volume of commercial operations at the airport in the year immediately preceding it.

2. Within one year of the entry into force of this Royal Decree, AENA shall draw up a report assessing the capacity of each airport for the purposes of Article 3 (2) and determining the availability of the available resources. for the practice of self-handling. Until such time, the number of users who practice self-handling at each airport will in no case be lower than the current one.

3. Given the capacity of each airport, priority will be given to the practice of self-handling to users who have contracted the date of entry into force of this Royal Decree. Spare capacity shall be allocated among the new applications in accordance with the criterion set out in paragraph 1.

Additional provision second. Approval of the rules of conduct and the relationship of centralised management infrastructure.

Within six months from the entry into force of this Royal Decree, the Secretary of State for Infrastructures and Transport will approve, on the proposal of AENA, the norms of conduct for the good airport management and the relationship of centralised management infrastructure in accordance with the provisions of Article 5.

Additional provision third. Computation of the number of groundhandling agents.

1. The provision by AENA of groundhandling services, as provided for in Article 14 (2), shall be taken into account for the purpose of determining the number of groundhandling agents referred to in paragraph 2. of Article 4. On the other hand, operators who provide only fuel and lubricant assistance, or those who provide ramp services exclusively to aircraft carrying out ambulance flights or flights of their own use, shall not be taken into account. the private transport of an undertaking or the flights carried out by the charterer of an aircraft for its personal transport.

2. Third-party assistance agents and self-handling users may subcontract, subject to the authorisation of AENA, the services of aircraft cleaning and assistance to disabled passengers.

Additional provision fourth. Selection of agents at airports with reduced air traffic.

For the purposes of selecting the agents responsible for the provision of groundhandling services to third parties, at airports whose annual traffic is less than two million passenger movements or 50,000 tonnes of cargo carried by aircraft, AENA may group all or some of the airports in a single selection process. The selection shall be carried out in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 14.

First transient disposition. Assistance agents and users who practice self-handling before.

The groundhandling agents who, at the date of entry into force of this Royal Decree, were providing these services, will be able to continue to exercise their activity until the end of their contracts at each airport and, where appropriate, to ensure the continuity of such services, until the time when the activity of the selected agents is initiated in accordance with the general rules laid down in this Royal Decree.

The groundhandling agents and users who, upon the entry into force of this Royal Decree were to provide groundhandling services, and intend to continue to carry out such activities, will have a one-year period of obtain the authorisation provided for in Article 9.

Second transient disposition. Constitution of the Committee of Users.

Within a maximum of two months from the entry into force of this Royal Decree, AENA will convene airport users for the effective constitution of the User Committees. The rules of operation of the Committee of Users shall be agreed by its members and approved by the Director General of Civil Aviation.

Final disposition first. Regulatory enablement.

The Minister of Public Works is authorised to lay down the rules necessary for the development and implementation of this Royal Decree.

Final disposition second. Entry into force.

This Royal Decree will enter into force on the day following its publication in the "Official State Gazette".

Given in Madrid to July 2, 1999.

JOHN CARLOS R.

The Minister of Development,

RAFAEL ARIAS-SALGADO MONTALVO

ANNEX

List of groundhandling services

1. Administrative assistance on land and supervision include:

(a) The services of representation and liaison with the local authorities or any other person, the costs incurred on behalf of the user and the supply of premises to their representatives.

b) Control of load operations, messages, and telecommunications.

c) Handling, storing, maintaining, and administering load units.

d) Any other monitoring service before, during or after the flight and any other administrative service requested by the user.

2. Passenger assistance shall include any form of assistance to passengers on departure, arrival, transit or correspondence, in particular in the control of tickets and travel documents, the check-in of baggage and the carriage of passengers. luggage up to the sorting facility.

3. Baggage handling includes handling of baggage in the classification room, its classification, its preparation for boarding, and its loading and unloading of the systems intended to take them from the aircraft to the classification room and to the the reverse, as well as the transport of luggage from the sorting room to the distribution room.

4. Mail and load assistance includes:

(a) As regards the loading, export, import or transit, physical handling, processing of the relevant documents, customs formalities and any precautionary measures agreed between the parties or required by the circumstances.

b) Regarding mail, both arrival and departure, physical handling, processing of relevant documents, and any precautionary measures agreed between the parties or required by the circumstances.

5. Track operations assistance includes:

(a) The aircraft's guided to the arrival (provided these services are not carried out by the air circulation service).

b) Assistance to the aircraft for its parking and the provision of adequate means (provided that these services are not carried out by the air circulation service).

c) The communications between the aircraft and the groundhandling agent (provided these services are not performed by the air circulation service).

(d) The loading and unloading of the aircraft, including the provision and use of the necessary means, as well as the carriage of the crew and passengers between the aircraft and the terminal, and the carriage of the baggage between the aircraft and the aircraft; aircraft and terminal.

e) Assistance for aircraft startup and adequate media supply.

f) The displacement of the aircraft, both at departure and arrival, and the supply and application of the necessary means.

6. The aircraft cleaning and servicing assistance comprises:

a) The exterior and interior cleaning of the aircraft, toilets and water service.

b) The air conditioning and heating of the cabin, the cleaning of the snow, the ice and the frost of the aircraft.

c) The conditioning of the cabin with the cabin equipment and the storage of such equipment.

7. Fuel and lubricant assistance comprises:

(a) The organisation and execution of the filling and emptying of the fuel, including the storage and control of the quality and quantity of deliveries.

b) Loading and lubricants and other liquid ingredients.

8. The online maintenance assistance includes:

a) Regular operations performed before the flight.

b) The particular operations required by the user.

c) The supply and management of the material needed for maintenance and spare parts.

d) The request or reservation of a parking point or hangar to perform maintenance operations.

9. Flight operations and crew management assistance comprise:

(a) The preparation of the flight at the departure airport or elsewhere.

b) In-flight assistance, including, if applicable, the change of itinerary in flight.

c) Post-flight services.

d) The administration of the crew.

10. Surface transport assistance includes:

(a) The organisation and execution of the carriage of passengers, crews, baggage, cargo and mail between the various terminals of the same airport, excluding any transport between the aircraft and any other place in the enclosure of the same airport.

b) Any special transport requested by the user.

11. Stewardship assistance ("catering") comprises:

a) Supplier relationships and administrative management.

b) The storage of food, beverages and accessories necessary for their preparation.

c) Cleaning accessories.

d) The preparation and delivery of the material and food products.

e) The transport, loading and unloading of food and beverages from the aircraft.