The EU insists that it will make no changes to its plans for a carbon tax on aviation emissions, despite continued warnings from India and China of retaliatory action, and the failure by two Indian airlines and eight Chinese airlines to submit emission data by a March 31 deadline.
“The day we get an ambitious global deal, we could amend our legislation. In the meantime, our law is here to stay,” said Mr Isaac Valero-Ladron, spokesperson for EU Commissioner, Ms Connie Hedegaard, in an e-mailed response.
“I am glad to see that India favours a global deal. So do we. In fact, the EU has been pushing for this for almost two decades.”
His comments follow a warning from the Civil Aviation Minister, Mr Ajit Singh, who told the
In a press conference in mid-May, Ms Hedegaard disclosed that two unnamed Indian airlines and eight unnamed Chinese airlines had not given their emission reports in an otherwise successful collection of data by the European Commission.
Airlines from other nations, some of which have been critical of the aviation tax, including the US, Canada, Russia, Mexico, Qatar, Japan and the UAE, all submitted the data, alongside all EU airlines.
The 10 non-submitters represented less than three per cent of total aviation emissions, Ms Hedegaard said. They have all been given a deadline of mid June to report back their data. If they do not comply, it would be up to the individual countries, to and from which the airlines operated, to apply penalties, which they could do in a number of ways.
The EU has firmly stuck to its stance that it is only embarking on the emission charges because of a value to reach a deal at a global level, and that it would be willing to find a solution via ‘equivalent' measures in the countries affected.
In an interview with Business Line earlier this year, she warned that any attempt to undermine the law through a trade war would undermine democratically made legislation.