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The Competition Commission (CC) is consulting on its draft rules of procedure for dealing with airport licence condition appeals, which could include challenges to the price controls introduced for airports such as Heathrow and Gatwick by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

The Civil Aviation Act 2012 brought in a new system of economic regulation for airports under which, operators of ‘dominant areas’ located at ‘dominant airports’ will require a licence to levy charges for airport operation services. A licence may include such conditions as the CAA considers necessary in relation to risks of abuse of market power, including price control conditions. The CAA’s final decision on its market power assessments for Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted and on its licence condition proposals are expected to be published in early 2014.

Appeals against licence condition decisions by the CAA can be made to the CC by the holder of the relevant licence or a provider of air transport services (ie airlines) whose interests are materially affected by the decision.

This appeal mechanism replaces the CC’s previous role in quinquennial reviews under the Airports Act 1986 (where designated airports were subject to mandatory five-year price caps which the CC automatically reviewed).

The consultation document, which is available here, covers the rules of procedure for determining appeals made to the CC. The draft rules cover issues such as the timetable, approach to receiving evidence and other representations and costs.

A licensing regime system for airport regulation was recommended by the CC following its investigation into BAA (PDF, 56 Kb) .

Responses to this consultation are invited in writing by 7 January 2014 to Clare.Fawcett@cc.gsi.gov.uk or:

Clare Fawcett
Competition Commission
Victoria House
Southampton Row
London
WC1B 4AD

Notes to editors

1. The CC is an independent public body which carries out investigations into mergers, markets and the regulated industries.

2. On 1 April 2014 the functions of the CC along with many of the functions of the Office of Fair Trading will be transferred to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and these bodies abolished. The CMA Transition team is proposing to put the finalised rules and any accompanying guidance to the CMA Board for adoption by the CMA. Those adopted guidance documents will, however, be kept under review once the CMA is in operation, in the light of its developing practice and case experience.

3. Enquiries should be directed to Rory Taylor or Siobhan Allen on 020 7271 0242.