CROATIA. From today, Croatia’s airports are introducing the same restrictions on liquids in passengers’ hand baggage as apply in the EU, European Economic Area and Switzerland.
Liquids, gels and creams may be brought through security in bottles, sprays or tubes not exceeding 100 ml and must be placed in a see-through resealable plastic bag or a see-through toiletries bag with a volume of up to one litre. The measures affect both international and domestic flights and mirror the new rules introduced on 6 November in the EU.
Croatia’s duty free retailers say it is ‘business as usual’ for passengers who wish to purchase duty free airside.
A spokesman for Zagreb Airport told The Moodie Report: “Croatian officials began today with the same rules as the EU. If somebody is travelling from Amsterdam via Zagreb to Dubrovnik with a sealed bag (purchased in Amsterdam) then the passenger can travel as normal. Our officials will accept the bags from the EU.”
Zagreb Airport has little direct transfer traffic between other non-EU states and the EU, but the spokesman said: “If the traveller comes from outside the EU but doesn’t enter Croatian territory, staying in the transfer area, then nothing will happen here. But if he enters the country then he needs to put his purchases in his luggage, because they will be confiscated at the security check when he leaves, as he would be beginning his journey in Croatia.”
Croatia’s duty free retailers are keen to introduce their own sealed bag system, one that would benefit passengers leaving Croatia and transferring in the EU. But the EU has yet to reach a political agreement with Croatia that recognises the harmonised security rules.
“Our officials [in the Ministry of Transport] have notified the EU that our airports pass all EU controls and they have all the correct licences. We hope an agreement is reached next year, but until then we don’t have our own sealed bags,” said the spokesman. “We have had appeals for sealed bags from some passengers, who compare us with EU airports. They don’t understand that they can buy in Amsterdam, Frankfurt or Heathrow and take their sealed bags [through their transfer airports], but from here they can’t. That is a frustration.”
MORE STORIES ON THE AVIATION SECURITY ISSUE
ICAO calls for global harmonisation of aviation security rules by March – 12/12/06
Australian airports to see EU-harmonised security; duty free lobby slams ‘inconsistency’ – 08/12/06
British Airways and BAA unite to guide passengers through security tangle – 06/12/06
Bacardi Global Travel Retail boosts travel retail’s security campaign with €20,000 pledge – 29/11/06
Changi notes -20% fall in liquid sales as aviation security regulations bite – 24/11/06
Diageo adds weight to duty free lobby with €50,000 commitment – 23/11/06
“˜Confiscations of 1,200 litres a day in certain places’; transit crisis worsens – 21/11/06
ETRC calls on trade to force security issue onto the political agenda – 20/11/06
Non-EU airport websites fail to fill the information gap on new security rules – 20/11/06
EU talks with US over new security measures prove inconclusive – 14/11/06
ACI World calls for harmonised global duty free regulations by 31 March 2007 – 07/11/06
Hold the Front Page; how the daily media covered the November 6 changes – 07/11/06
