A new Civil Aviation Bill is currently going through Parliament which is intended to update the existing legislation which became law in the 1980s and is now considered outdated.

The changes proposed in the Bill aim to modernise the regulatory framework for civil aviation in the UK in the following ways:

• reforms to the legislative framework for the economic regulation of airports.  This will allow the introduction of a new licensing regime for airports to open up competition and allow regulation to be tailored to meet the requirements of individual airports rather than the current “one size fits all” approach.
  
  
• changes to the legislative framework of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) which will allow us to put passengers needs first
  
  
•  transferring certain aviation security functions to the CAA.

The Bill also contains a provision to widen the Secretary of State’s powers so that holidays sold by airlines or arranged on an ‘agent for the consumer’ basis could be included in the ATOL scheme in the future.

We believe that these important reforms will make a real difference to consumers and put them at the heart of economic regulation.  It will also provide the CAA for the first time with powers to require the publication by the industry of information to help consumers make informed decisions, and of information about the environmental impacts of aviation.

More information about the Civil Aviation Bill is available from the Department for Transport.