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Regulatory Policy

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 NATS (EN ROUTE) PLC (NERL) LICENCE

Under the Transport Act 2000 the Government issued a licence to NATS (En Route) plc (NERL) to provide en route air traffic services in the UK. The Act gives the CAA the role of economic regulator of NERL. The CAA exercises this role mainly through monitoring and enforcing the conditions in the Licence and through modifications to the Licence. The Licence is available below, as is a descriptive summary of the price control conditions in the Licence:

CP3 price control review - charges from 2011

In December 2010, the CAA modified the non-price control conditions in NERL's Licence. The CAA's decision and consultation documents are below.

In its decision on the price controls from 2006 the CAA initiated a review of the conditions in the licence. The following note sets out more details of the review.

In May 2005 the CAA decided to make some mainly minor modifications to the NERL licence. The CAA's decision is available below:

In its decision on the price control for CP2 (2006-2010) the CAA described the various workstreams that were to be pursued over the course of CP2, largely led by NATS. This work has been progressing and the CAA is publishing for information:

Price control - the charges from 2006

The CAA sets caps on the prices that NERL charges for its en route business (both Eurocontrol and Oceanic). The current caps run until 31 December 2010 and 31 March 2011 respectively.  The CAA's decision and consultation papers on the current price controls are below:

Each time the CAA has published a major document during the review it has also published a 4-page document to provide a non-technical guide to the subject. These guides are:

Documents on previous price control reviews are available by clicking here.

Monitoring and Enforcement of the NATS En Route plc (NERL) Licence

 

 

The CAA has stated that it will adopt the guidelines published by the Office of Fair Trading on the application and enforcement of the prohibitions in the Competition Act 1998, with respect to the supply of air traffic services, until such time as it decides that it is appropriate to publish more detailed guidelines.

 

The CAA has received legal advice that suggests that NATS is not an undertaking under competition law.  In June 2004, it issued a consultation paper and in April 2006 it published its policy on the matter.

In exercising its functions under Chapter I of Part I of the Transport Act 2000, the CAA shall take account of any international obligations of the United Kingdom as may be notified to it by the Secretary of State.  The following notification was made on 17 December 2004 (pdf download).

Charging for Air Traffic Services at Airports

The Government has asked the CAA to advise on whether separate charges for air traffic control, which currently only apply to six BAA airports, should be extended to all airports or be discontinued. The CAA has published a consultation document.

Queries regarding air traffic services regulation should be directed to natsregulation@caa.co.uk.