IATA’S NEW DISTRIBUTION CAPABILITY (NDC) 563 since then of a favourable position in the market of air tickets distribution6, becoming unavoidable intermediaries in air tickets distribution. I.2. Specific European Competition Measures in Ticket Distribution Given the anticompetitive practices that came with development of American CRSs, two types of measures were adopted in Europe, in the 1980s, to avoid criticism and to maintain fair competition between actors: exemption decisions and codes of conduct. I.2.1. EXEMPTION DECISIONS The first measure taken was the Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2672/88 of 26 July 1988 on the application of Article 85(3) of the Treaty (now Article 101(1) TFEU) to certain categories of agreements between undertakings relating to computer reservation systems for air transport services. Under this regulation, Article 81(1) of the treaty was not applicable to agreements between undertakings relating to the purchase, the creation and/or the regulation of the provision of distribution facilities of CRS. This was followed by the Commission Regulation (EEC) No 83/91 of 5 December 1990 on the application of Article 85(3) of the Treaty to certain categories of Agreements between undertakings relating to computer reservation systems for air transport services. This regulation granted a block exemption to certain agreements establishing CRS. Finally, the European Commission adopted the Regulation (EC) No 3652/93 of 22 December 1993 on the application of Article 85(3) of the Treaty to certain categories of agreements between undertakings relating to computerised reservation systems for air transport services. This regulation renewed the previous exemption. This set of regulations was further completed with codes of conduct. However, none of these exemption regulations are in force anymore. I.2.2. CODES OF CONDUCT The first code of conduct was contained in the Council Regulation (EEC) No 2299/89 of 24 July 1989, on a code of conduct for computerised reservation systems. The main purpose of the code was to ensure that the information 6 Mia Wouters, How to sell tickets – IATA’s new distribution capabilities (NDC): a new model? In Pablo Mendes de Leon (ed.), From Lowlands to High Skies – A multilevel jurisdictional approach towards air law, 2013.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTE4NzM5Nw==