148 COMPETITION LAW IN TOURISM meaning of Article 107(1) of the Treaty. Public service compensations that are State aid will be assessed under the 2011 SGEI Decision11 and if the SGEI Decision is not applicable under the SGEI framework12. Together those four documents form the ‘SGEI package’, which also applies to compensation granted to airports and airlines13. As regards air transport services, Public Service Obligations (PSO) can only be imposed under Regulation (EC) No. 1008/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 September 2008 on common rules for the operation of air services in the Community14. In particular, such obligations can only be imposed with regard to a specific route or group of routes, and not concerning any generic route originating from a given airport, city or region. Moreover, PSOs can only be imposed with regard to a route to fulfil transport needs which cannot be adequately met by an existing air route or by other means of transport (see more details on PSOs below). The air transport is thus a sector in which the Union legislator decided to restrict the margin of discretion commonly enjoyed by the Member States when qualifying certain activities as SGEIs, by imposing conditions set out in this Regulation No. 1008/200815. Furthermore, compliance with the substantive and procedural requirements of Regulation No. 1008/2008 does not entail an automatic compliance to State aid rules. An autonomous assessment of compliance to the SGEI package must be undertaken by the public authorities16. It should also be mentioned that, when considering commercial incentives to an airline, airports have to bear in mind other relevant European law constraints. Indeed, Article 102 TFEU prohibits abuses of dominance, for instance, the discriminatory treatment of airlines. Two decades ago, several large airports (the Brussels airport, as well as Spanish and Portuguese airports) were condemned by the Commission for abuses of a dominant position under Article 102 TFEU as their rebates on airport charges favoured their national airlines. Their rebates scales were not progressive, and only the national airlines were able to access the 11 Ibid, OJ L 7, 11/01/2012, p. 3. 12 Commission Communication on a European Union framework for State aid in the form of public service compensation (2011), OJ C 8, 11/01/2012, p. 15. 13 For more information, G. MAMDANI and J. RAPP, “SGEI” in EU Competition law, Vol. IV State aid, book two, Claeys Casteels, 2016, pp. 1257-1385. 14 OJ L 293, 31/10/2008, p. 3. 15 A. LEPIECE and H. BAEYENS, “Les obligations de service public dans le secteur du transport aérien en droit européen”, RDIR, TRNI 2015/4, p. 419. 16 Ibid.
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