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EUROPE. In a dramatic development, European Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas (who is responsible for transport) is today advising EU Member States to defer “for a limited period” the planned removal of restrictions on the carriage of duty free liquids in hand luggage, originally due to be implemented today – 29 April.
The European Travel Retail Council said: “In recent days, a growing number of Member States decided to maintain the ban on carrying duty free liquids purchased in third countries beyond this date. The Commission advice is issued in order to avoid a situation which would not have facilitated travel but rather caused confusion for passengers.
“The Commission will conduct a review of the situation together with Member States and consult with the United States as one of the key destinations of flights from the EU.”
“My main objective is to make life easier for air travellers,” said Vice President Kallas. “However, it is clear that a situation at European airports which leads to confusion for air passengers as to whether they can travel or not with ‘duty free liquids’, in particular for connecting flights to the United States, should be avoided.
“Therefore, the restrictions on carrying ‘duty free’ liquids purchased outside the EU through European airports should remain in place until passengers can travel with certainty.”
The EU is working towards removing all restrictions on the carriage of liquids in hand luggage by 2013.
Passengers have not been allowed to travel with most liquids since 2006, thus obliging them to discard liquids carried in hand luggage at security checkpoints at European airports. The intention is to apply screening as a method for controlling liquids, rather than imposing bans, said the ETRC.
It continued: “An initial step forward on the road towards achieving that goal was to be implemented as of 29 April by screening duty free liquid purchases carried by air passengers arriving from outside the EU and transferring onto a connecting flight.”
Currently, passengers arriving in Europe with duty free liquids [over 100ml] and transferring have to discard those liquids at the security checkpoint.
Passengers will continue to be allowed to carry LAGs from all international airports in Canada and the US, six airports in Croatia (Dubrovnik, Pula, Rijeka, Split, Zadar and Zagreb), Changi Airport in Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia, under special rules that are already in place. Passengers arriving from those airports will still be able to transfer at European airports with their LAGs.
Furthermore, passengers travelling with liquid purchases made at EU airports or onboard EU air carriers may also
transfer at European airports without restriction.
Asked what might happen next, ETRC Secretary General Keith Spinks said: “I think at the present we have to take the Commission’s statement at face value, i.e. ‘The Commission will conduct a review of the situation together with Member States and consult with the United States as one of the key destinations of flights from the EU’.
“We will have to see what comes out of that consultation process,” Spinks concluded.
COMMENT: Today’s news is probably a victory for pragmatism but not, ultimately, for the travelling consumer.
It is likely that if the Commission had not announced its climb-down that chaotic scenes would have ensued at European airports in coming days. For recent history tells us that certain non-EU retailers WOULD have sold LAGs to consumers, even in the knowledge that the goods may be confiscated – despite the changes in EU law.
After all the damage done to its credibility in recent times due to confiscations, our industry cannot afford that sort of debacle.
Equally, of course, one could argue that it cannot afford to keep losing out on so many sales. But better that, than losing consumer faith forever.
Many airports undoubtedly resisted the original 29 April lifting of LAGs restrictions simply on cost grounds. It will be interesting to see how long that interest group seeks to postpone any easing of the restrictions. One suspects progress may be a long way off.
So, again, a victory for pragmatism today. But not one that anybody, least of all those with the consumers’ interests at heart, should be celebrating.
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