La pratica dei pagamenti per i diritti di sorvolo della Siberia: ultimi sviluppi

In November 2011 an epoch-making agreement to amend the system of the «Siberian overflight» payments – the royalties that EU/Asian air carriers pay in order to have the right to overfly Russia while in transit through the so-called Trans-Siberian routes – was set out in an exchange of letters signed by EU and Russian authorities. By providing for the progressive phasing-out of these royalties, the agreement represents a milestone breakthrough for the further advancement of EU-Russia aviation relations. Indeed, as the European Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas correctly pointed out: «Siberian overflight royalties have for decades been the single most important obstacle for further developing EU-Russia aviation relations to the detriment of airlines and passengers». The practice of the «Siberian payments» has always raised many doubts over its legality under public international air law and, recently, EU law and has been an object of long debate. In particular, due to the fact that EU air carriers are especially affected by this practice, heated discussion has taken place within the framework of EU-Russia aviation relations. Significantly, the new agreement follows the infringement procedures launched by the European Commission against most of its Member States over their bilateral air services agreements with the Russian Federation in late 2010 and early 2011. By taking legal action on the basis of the possible anti-competitive effects of these bilateral agreements, the Commission brought new attention to the so-called «Siberian overflights issue». In the light of the most recent developments and paying particular attention to the EU-Russia «arm-wrestling» on the topic, the present article aims at giving a general overview of the political and legal issues arising from the «Siberian overflights payments».