American and Chinese Opposition to EU Aviation Plans

On Wednesday next week (21.12), the European Court of Justice is expected to deliver its final verdict on whether the inclusion of entire international flights into the EU ETS, planned from January, is a violation of sovereignty rights and the 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation. The case, brought forward by the Air Transport Association of America (ATA), will likely be dismissed.
The fact that the EU ETS will equally cover non-EU airlines is also contested as an illegal taxation of U.S. airlines. In October, the House of Representatives passed a bill banning U.S. carriers from participating in the scheme, putting them in a possible catch-22 of either violating EU or U.S. legislation. The bill, however, is unlikely to pass the Democrat-controlled Senate where it was proposed on 07 December.
Meanwhile, the China Air Transport Association (CATA) has urged Chinese airlines to boycott the EU ETS by neither submitting monitoring plans nor trying to negotiate individual exemptions or preferential treatment with the EU (the latter being unrealistic anyway as long as China does not implement “equivalent measures” in which case the EU directive leaves room for a compromise). Obviously awaiting the verdict by the European Court of Justice, Chinese airlines have not taken legal action yet but are expected to do so in due course. Also, a trade war is still looming.