Irish MEPs will this week call on the EU Transport Commissioner, Jacques Barrot, to reform security measures in relation to liquids carried by airline passengers into EU countries.
Irish MEPs will this week call on the EU Transport Commissioner, Jacques Barrot, to reform security measures in relation to liquids carried by airline passengers into EU countries.
New EU security measures introduced last November allow passengers to carry 100mg of liquids onto an aircraft in a sealed plastic bag. But the regulations do not apply to passengers from outside the 27 member states, who are transiting through EU airports.
The anomaly means that, while US passengers flying point-to-point into Heathrow are allowed to carry a certain amount of liquids, those who are transiting through Heathrow are having their duty-free confiscated. Irish MEPs are receiving complaints from Irish people who travel to New York via airports such as Heathrow or Schiphol and are having their goods confiscated.
Irish MEPs will tomorrow call for negotiations on a reciprocal arrangement with these countries to extend the security regulations beyond EU member states. The issue is being debated tomorrow in Strasbourg at a full session of the European Parliament.
At Frankfurt airport, some 20 tonnes of liquids such as perfume and alcohol are confiscated every week, according to figures compiled by the Irish MEPs.
In Schiphol, the major airport in Amsterdam,1,600 litres of alcoholic drinks are being confiscated daily.
Heathrow Airport has not provided details of liquids confiscated, but said it was receiving 200 complaints a day about the implementation of the regulations.
The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) said confiscation of goods for transit passengers was not a major issue at Dublin or Shannon, as they were not major transit hubs.
The failure to extend the regulation is also affecting the business of Aer Rianta International which has duty-free shops around the world, including the Soviet Union, Canada and the Middle East.
Fianna Fail MEP Sean O Neachtain, who is a member of the transport committee in the European Parliament, said that the EU should review countries on a case-by-case basis, with a view to striking a reciprocal arrangement for implementing these new security regulations.
‘‘The present regulations are simply unfair and they need to be updated quickly, from an international perspective,” he said.
Source: Sunday Business Post
XML Feeds
