Reference for a preliminary ruling from High Court of Justice Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court) (United Kingdom) made on 22 July 2010 - The Air Transport Association of America, American Airlines, Inc., Continental Airlines, Inc., United Airlines, Inc. v The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
(Case C-366/10)
Language of the case: English
Referring court
High Court of Justice Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court)
Parties to the main proceedings
Applicants: The Air Transport Association of America, American Airlines, Inc., Continental Airlines, Inc., United Airlines, Inc.
Defendant: The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
Questions referred
Are any or all of the following rules of international law capable of being relied upon in this case to challenge the validity of Directive 2003/87/EC
1 as amended by Directive 2008/101/EC
2 so as to include aviation activities within the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (together the "Amended Directive"):
a. the principle of customary international law that each state has complete and exclusive sovereignty over its air space;
b. the principle of customary international law that no state may validly purport to subject any part of the high seas to its sovereignty;
c. the principle of customary international law of freedom to flyover the high seas;
d. the principle of customary international law (the existence of which is not accepted by the Defendant) that aircraft overflying the high seas are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the country in which they are registered, save as expressly provided for by international treaty;
e. the Chicago Convention (in particular Articles 1, 11, 12, 15 and 24);
f. the Open Skies Agreement (in particular Articles 7, 11(2)(c) and 15(3));
g. the Kyoto Protocol (in particular, Article 2(2))?
To the extent that question 1 may be answered in the affirmative:
Is the Amended Directive invalid, if and insofar as it applies the Emissions Trading Scheme to those parts of flights (either generally or by aircraft registered in third countries) which take place outside the airspace of EU Member States, as contravening one or more of the principles of customary international law asserted above?
Is the Amended Directive invalid, if and insofar as it applies the Emissions Trading Scheme to those parts of flights (either generally or by aircraft registered in third countries) which take place outside the airspace of EU Member States:
a. as contravening Articles 1, 11 and/or 12 of the Chicago Convention;
b. as contravening Article 7 of the Open Skies Agreement?
Is the Amended Directive invalid, insofar as it applies the Emissions Trading Scheme to aviation activities:
a. as contravening Article 2(2) of the Kyoto Protocol and Article 15(3) of the Open Skies Agreement;
b. as contravening Article 15 of the Chicago Convention, on its own or in conjunction with Articles 3(4) and 15(3) of the Open Skies Agreement;
c. as contravening Article 24 of the Chicago Convention, on its own or in conjunction with Article 11(2)(c) of the Open Skies Agreement?
____________1 - Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2003 establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community and amending Council Directive 96/61/EC (Text with EEA relevance) OJ L 275, p. 322 - Directive 2008/101/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 amending Directive 2003/87/EC so as to include aviation activities in the scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community (Text with EEA relevance) OJ L 8, p. 3