S.I. No. 715/2003 - European Communities (Statistics in Respect of Carriage of Passengers, Freight and Mail by Air) Regulations 2003

I, Bertie Ahern, Taoiseach in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act 1972 (No. 27 of 1972), and for the purpose of giving further effect to Regulation (EC) No. 437/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 February 2003¹ , as amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1358/2003 of 31 July 2003² , hereby make the following regulations:

1.         These Regulations may be cited as European Communities (Statistics in respect of Carriage of Passengers, Freight and Mail by Air) Regulations 2003.

2.         (1)      In these Regulations -

“Act of 1993” means Statistics Act 1993 (No. 21 of 1993);

“airport” means an airport in the State, specified in the Commission Regulation and for ease of reference, set out in the Schedule;

“Annex” means Annex I to the European Parliament and Council Regulation;

“commercial air transport operator” means any air transport undertaking with a valid operating licence for operating commercial air flights;

“Commission Regulation” means Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1358/2003 of 31 July 2003² ;

“European Parliament and Council Regulation” means Regulation EC No. 437/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 February 2003¹ , (as amended by the Commission Regulation) on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of passengers, freight and mail by air;

“Office” means Central Statistics Office;

“flight stage” means the operation of an aircraft from take-off to its next landing;

“on flight origin and destination” means traffic on a commercial air service identified by a unique flight number subdivided by airport pairs in accordance with the point of embarkation and point of disembarkation on that flight.

(2)      A word or expression that is used in these Regulations and is also used in the European Parliament and Council Regulation has, unless the context otherwise requires, the same meaning in these Regulations as it has in that Regulation.

(3)      In these Regulations, a reference to a Regulation or a Schedule is a reference to a Regulation of, or a Schedule to, these Regulations.

(4)      In these Regulations, a reference to any enactment shall be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended, adapted or extended by or under any subsequent enactment including these Regulations.

3.       (1)      In respect of any month, commencing with the month that begins on 1 January 2004, a commercial air transport operator who, by virtue of the Commission Regulation, is required to provide an airport (referred to in Parts 1 and 2 of the Schedule) with the information required to enable the airport to complete Tables A1 and B1 specified in the Annex relating to flight stage and on flight origin and destination data for commercial air services provided by such operator at that airport during that month, such operator shall provide that information to that airport not later than 2 months after the last day of that month.

(2)      In respect of any year, commencing with the year 2004, a commercial air transport operator who, by virtue of the Commission Regulation, is required to provide an airport (referred to in the Schedule) with the information required to enable that airport to complete Table C1 specified in the Annex relating to passengers carried, freight and mail loaded onto or unloaded from an aircraft operated by that operator and aircraft movements at that airport during that year, such operator shall provide that information to that airport not later than 2 months after 31 December of that year.

4.       (1)      After the expiration of each month, commencing with the month that begins on 1 January 2004, an airport (referred to in Parts 1 and 2 of the Schedule which is, by virtue of the Commission Regulation, required to provide the Office with information for each month, in accordance with Tables A1 and B1 specified in the Annex relating to flight stage data and on flight origin and destination data for commercial air services at the airport during that month, shall provide that information to the Office not later than 4 months after the last day of that month.

(2)      After the expiration of each year, commencing with the year 2004, an airport (referred to in the Schedule) which, by virtue of the Commission Regulation is required to provide the Office with information in accordance with Table C1 specified in the Annex relating to passengers carried, freight and mail loaded onto or unloaded from an aircraft and aircraft movements at the airport during that year, shall provide that information to the Office not later than 4 months after 31 December of that year.

5.       The Office shall comply with Articles 6 and 7 of the European Parliament and Council Regulation and, accordingly, a reference in those Articles to Member States shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be construed as a reference to the Office.

6.       A person who fails or refuses to comply with Regulation 3 or 4 is guilty of an offence.

7.       Sections 15, 23, 26 to 29, 32, 36 to 40 and 42 to 44 of the Act of 1993 shall with the following modifications, apply to these Regulations, and a reference in those sections to that Act shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be construed as including a reference to these Regulations -

(a)      in subsections (1) and (2) of the said section 26, the substitution of “a provision of these Regulations” for “a requirement made under section 25 of this Act” in each place where it occurs,

(b)      in the said section 36, the substitution of “a provision of these Regulations” for “a requirement made under section 25 of this Act”,

(c)      in the said section 38, the deletion of “or the repealed enactments” and of “or wilfully discloses information relating to any identifiable person or undertaking in contravention of section 33 of this Act”,

(d)      in the said section 42, the substitution of “a provision of these Regulations” for “a requirement made under section 25 of this Act”,

(e)      in the said section 44 -

(i)         in subsection (1), the substitution of “shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding €3,000” for “shall be liable -

(a)        on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,000, or

(b)        on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding £20,000”,

and

(ii)        in subsection (2), the substitution of “shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding €100” for “shall be liable -

(a)        on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £50, or

(b)        on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding £1,000”,

and a reference in any of those sections of the Act of 1993 to a section of that Act shall be construed as a reference to that section as modified by this Regulation, and any other necessary modifications.

8.       Where an offence under these Regulations is committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been committed with the consent, connivance or approval of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of any person being a director, manager secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate, or any other person purporting to act in any such capacity, that person as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished as if he or she were guilty of the first-mentioned offence.

SCHEDULE

Regulations 3 and 4

AIRPORTS PROVIDING INFORMATION TO THE OFFICE

PART 1

Dublin Airport

Shannon Airport (also known as Shannon International Airport)

Cork Airport

PART 2

Connaught Regional Airport (also known as Knock International Airport)

Kerry Airport

PART 3

Galway Airport

Connemara Regional Airport (also known as Connemara Airport)

Sligo Regional Airport (also known as Sligo Airport)

Waterford Airport (also known as South East Regional Airport Waterford)

Donegal Airport

Inishmore Airport

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

(This note is not part of the regulations and does not purport to be a legal interpretation)

The purpose of the regulations is to enforce a statutory collection of statistical information on the scale and development of the carriage of passengers, freight and mail by air within the European Community or to and from the European Community. This will result in comparable, consistent, synchronised and regular data at European Community level.

¹ OJ No. L066, 11.3.2003, p.1.

² OJ NO. L194, 1.8.2003, p.194

² OJ NO. L194, 1.8.2003, p.194

¹ OJ No. L066, 11.3.2003, p.1.