As the weather takes an Autumnal turn, welcome to our September edition of Legalflyer where we once again review a series of topical issues for the aviation industry.
We start this edition with an examination of the UK cartel offence following the collapse of a recent high profile case (May 2010) brought by the Office of Fair Trading against four (current and former) British Airways executives for price-fixing. The article is written by Peter Scott, a partner and Mark Daniels, an associate, both in our Competition practice in Norton Rose LLP, London.
In our second article and following on from articles in previous editions, Matthew Hodkin, Tax partner and David Ward, Tax associate, both based in Norton Rose LLP, London take a closer look at the draft legislation proposed by the new coalition government to bring the UK's zero-rating of aircraft into line with Article 148 of Council Directive EC 2006/112, ahead of implementation in January 2011.
Our third article considers the increasingly important topic of embargos in relation to the aviation industry with particular focus on EU embargos and the impact on aircraft leasing. The article is written by Michael Jürgen Werner, partner and Raluca Marian, consultant, both from the Competition practice in Norton Rose LLP, Belgium.
In our fourth and final article we go across to Germany where the package of austerity measures announced by the German government prior to its parliament's Summer break included a proposal to raise a new tax on all flights departing from German airports. If it becomes law, the new tax is predicted to bring in up to 1 billion euros per year for the public purse. Matthias Weigert, a corporate finance associate and Jonathan Mullender, a banking associate both based in Norton Rose LLP, Munich, assess the potential impact.
Finally I am delighted to announce that Ernest van Buuren will shortly be joining our commercial litigation team in the Brisbane office of Norton Rose, Australia. Ernest joins from Blake Dawson where he headed the trade and transport practice. His appointment gives the practice added strength in trade and transport, particularly aviation and shipping.
As always, I hope that you will find our articles to be of interest and I would be delighted if readers could provide any comments on the content, or suggestions for future editions of Legalflyer, by using the comments box which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Likewise please feel free to pass on the details of colleagues who may wish to receive Legalflyer.
Editor
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