TNAG-0777-FCO40-981-Involvement-of-Hong-Kong-in-air-services-agreements-1978 — Page 158

· 4.

4. In recent years, the IATA tariff machinery has come under increasing strain.

agreement has not been possible. In some cases, where

In

many areas formal

there is a large measure of agreement amongst carriers, informal agreements

have been reached and submitted to governments for approval, but these do not

carry the same force as a formal agreement and in the event of breaches IATA

cannot take enforcement action.

t.]

5. The Authority examines tariff agreements and bilateral filings against the

criteria laid down in the Act and Policy Guidance, bearing in mind the UK's

internation obligations. Where there is a British carrier operating on the

routes, theAuthority calls on it to provide economic justification, in the

form of costs and revenue data, for the proposals. This is however, practicable

only on a route network basis since it is not usually possible for the carrier to isolate such data for individual routes. [wever, in addition to such assess-

ments the Authority, with British Airways and British Caledonian, is conducting

in depth studies on certain important routes on a continuing basis and in the

The longer term these studies will have implications in the wider context.

position is different in respect of proposals for tariffs on routes where there

is no UK carrier. This is because ASAS confer no rights on a contracting party.

to require a designated carrier of the other Party to provide costs justification

for its tariff proposals. Whilst the Authority can invite foreign carriers to

provide such justification, most regard the information as commerically

confidential and either decline the invitation or provide information of a

superficial nature on which it is not possible to take an informed decision.

In these circumstances, it is inadvisable to press the matter both because it

would almost certainly escalate to government level with the risk of a protracted

dispute about the provisions of the ASA, and because it would give a hostage

to fortune and expose British carriers to similar pressure from foreign governments

pressure whihh KMG would resist both on principle and because any leakage of

information which was provided might be damaging to the UK carrier's interest. TheAuthority approves proposals only when it is satisfied that it is

commercial

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