IATA Legal Symposium

Program Highlights

• Aircraft Accident Issues: Addressing current trends and developments in accident litigation, including the continuing trend of criminalization of aircraft accidents, the tendency on the part of plaintiffs to jump the gun in commencing proceedings and the knock-on effect on airline safety and insurance coverage.
• Airline mergers and alliances in a new environment – time for a new approach? There has been a change of guard in antitrust enforcement in the US and EU over the past 12 months. At the same time, new or reinforced antitrust enforcers are emerging in other parts of the world. How will these new regimes approach the airline mergers and alliances reviews that they inherit in the post-crisis environment? Is it time to take issues such as network efficiencies and indispensability seriously? Is the current structure of remedies necessary and effective?
• Regulatory round-table: The panel comprised of regulators from around the world will speak about their preoccupations in the current climate and their priorities for the industry for the new decade.
• Consumer protection and passenger issues: A discussion of recent developments in consumer protection in the airline industry, including the ECJ decision on Regulation 261-2004, proposed legislation in delay compensation in the USA, proposed action by the EU on airline bankruptcy and cabin health issues.
• Aviation and the Environment: With little accomplished at Copenhagen, the battle rages on This panel of representatives from many areas of the aviation industry will examine the challenges facing the industry and will express their views on the policies and regulations that are likely to be implemented to reduce aviation's contribution toward global warming and offer suggestions on how the airline industry can prepare to meet these challenges.
• Legal Department Management - best practices and priorities for your legal department: Topics will include managing workloads and workflows in the legal department, measures to reduce external legal spend, and communicating the contribution of the legal department across your organization
• Data assets in the airline industry: A panel exploring legal issues arising from airline data, including the types of data created by airlines, the types of uses (and misuses) of airline data, the IP and property rights to data, the typical contracts involved and the impact of social networking sites and blogs.
• Unlawful Interference Convention 2009 - the international community’s legal response to the threat of aviation terrorism: A panel comprising of those involved in the process of adoption of the new Convention from the Government and Industry perspective. We will offer an analysis of the key features of the convention and focus on the most contentious points.
• Liberalization – Agenda for Freedom: This panel will explore the concept that the economic regulation of the air transport industry is increasingly reflecting aspects of general international trade law to the detriment of the traditional bilateral system. The consequences of the Agenda for Freedom, if implemented, would raise a number of trade law issues. Also, environment-related measures or differing competition law principles could potentially be seen as barriers to trade. The panel would discuss this trend and the likely consequences for the aviation industry.
• Global Cargo Regulatory Update: A panel highlighting legal issues facing international air cargo carriers now and in the imminent future. From 100% cargo screening initiatives in the U.S. to advanced electronic customs information requirements in Europe, air cargo carriers are facing more regulatory constraints than ever before. This panel will identify some of the measures that counsel should be implementing with their airline clients today and in the near future.
• EU Regulation 261-2004: Five years after coming into force, EU Regulation 261-2004 remains one of the most contentious pieces of legislation to emerge from Brussels in recent times. This panel of experts will examine the current status of the Regulation from the industry and consumer perspective, in particular in the light of the controversial EU Court of Justice decision on 19 November 2009.
• Airlines as single actors under Competition law: Collaboration among airlines commands most attention by competition authorities and those who are responsible for competition law compliance - but competition law also governs unilateral conduct by single actors.  Like all business enterprises, especially those with strong market positions, airlines are subject to the rules governing access to essential facilities, alleged abuse of dominant positions and monopolization.  This panel will discuss the application of competition law to single actors in the aviation industry making unilateral business decisions.

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