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BRUSSELS (9 December 2005) – The Coalition for Fair Access to Reservations in Europe today denounced plans by some in the European Commission to quietly scrap time-tested rules that guarantee European consumers fair prices and fair choice in travel reservations in Europe.
Just as many Europeans are finalising their holiday plans, the European Commission’s Transportation Directorate, led by Commission Vice President Jacques Barrot, is pushing an untimely repeal of effective consumer protection rules over the vehement objections of consumer groups, travel agents, business travellers and travel management and distribution companies alike. The proposal could be put to a vote before Christmas. “This initiative makes a mockery of the European Commission’s stated drive to promote ‘better regulation,’” said Brandon Mitchener, executive director of C-FARE, whose members include travel management companies and on-line travel services as well as frequent business travellers and Galileo and Sabre, two companies that provide travel reservations services to citizens, business travellers and travel agents throughout Europe. “If these rules disappear, the Commission will be directly responsible for destroying a critical component of the travel and tourism industry in Europe.” The Commission has sought to justify this radical and high-risk initiative in the name of improving the competitiveness of the European air travel sector. Nothing could be further from the truth. “Ditching the rules wholesale while major airlines continue to own a major computer reservation system will cause a return to the kind of lawless environment which prompted these rules in the first place,” said Mr. Mitchener. “It is a reckless rush to judgement that ignores a sea of red warning signs.” Since 1989, the vast majority of travel reservations in Europe have been governed by the European Union’s CRS Code of Conduct. The Code guarantees that European travellers are entitled to the best available fares and prices, irrespective of the airline affiliation of the CRS used to make a reservation. In a misguided move, the Commission recently included the CRS Code of Conduct in a preliminary list of allegedly outdated regulations that the Commission proposes to scrap, despite the fact that: o The Commission only a year ago, in an extended economic impact statement, recommended the indefinite retention of the key rules governing CRSs; o No new economic impact study has been produced to justify a change; o Several major European airlines continue to own a significant stake in one of Europe’s biggest CRSs; o A majority of Europeans still rely on CRSs, through travel agents and travel websites, to book all their travel; o And European travel agents, consumer organisations, travel management companies, airlines and others have spent the last three years telling the Commission in no uncertain terms that they think it would be folly to scrap the rules at this point! The draft proposal, currently undergoing internal review among other parts of the European Union executive organisation, could eliminate the existing consumer protection laws as soon as next year, resulting almost immediately in higher prices and reduced choice for European leisure and business travellers. “The European Commission should do the right thing and at the least subject this proposal to a thorough economic impact analysis—as indeed it has pledged to do with all significant regulatory initiatives,” Mr. Mitchener said. “It is clear that the only beneficiaries of an immediate and unconditional deregulation which would be a handful of already-dominant European companies including Lufthansa, AirFrance-KLM and Iberia, as well as Amadeus, the CRS that they jointly own and effectively control.” “C-FARE supports responsible reform of the EU’s CRS Code of Conduct,” Mr. Mitchener added, “but not an irresponsible and precipitous deregulation that will leave European travellers and the European travel industry stranded.” FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: • Brandon Mitchener, C-FARE Executive Director Tel.: +32-2-645-9833/4 or +32-477-245-077 or e-mail: bmitchener@c-fare.org Or visit our website at: www.c-fare.org BACKGROUND What is C-FARE? • The Coalition for Fair Access to Reservations in Europe (C-FARE) brings together an alliance of travel companies, consumers and other interested parties sharing a common concern about the continuing dangers posed by the vertical integration of computer reservation systems (CRSs) with airlines. • The goals of C-FARE are to raise awareness of these dangers and to seek sensible revisions to the current EC CRS Code of Conduct in order to benefit consumers, travel agents, business travellers, airlines and independent systems as the industry moves toward partial deregulation. • C-FARE’s members include AERTiCKET AG, TUI 4U GmbH and Travel Overland Flugreisen GmbH & Co. KG of Germany, ebookers of the UK, the Business Travel Coalition, Cendant and Sabre Holdings. For more information, please see the C-FARE website, www.c-fare.org. • Since its creation C-FARE has attracted support from a wide range of interested parties and maintains excellent relations with: • Europe’s ‘participating’ airlines, including British Airways, amongst others. • EU consumer groups including the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (VZBV) and the European Consumers’ Organisation (BEUC). • European travel agents, including the “European Travel Agents’ and Tour Operators’ Associations” (ECTAA). # # #
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