The Civil Aviation Authority (“CAA”), in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 73, 74, 75 and 79 of the Transport Act 2000(a), hereby makes the following Specification:

Citation and commencement

1. This Specification may be cited as the Civil Aviation Authority (Denmark and Iceland Charges) Specification 2025 and shall take effect on 1st January 2025.

Revocation

2. The Civil Aviation Authority (Denmark and Iceland Charges) Specification 2024, which took effect on 1st January 2024, is hereby revoked.

Interpretation

3. (1) In this Specification –

“NSL” means NATS (Services) Limited, a company incorporated in England and Wales with number 4129270 whose registered office is at 4000 Parkway, Whiteley, Fareham, Hampshire, PO15 7FL.

(2) Unless otherwise defined in this Specification and unless the context otherwise requires, expressions used in this Specification shall have the same respective meanings as in the Transport Act 2000 and the Air Navigation Order 2016(b).

Charges for services provided by the Governments of Denmark and Iceland

4. (1) In respect of each crossing between Europe and North America by an aircraft, wherever registered, in the course of which the aircraft is at any time north of the 45th parallel North between the meridians of 15° West and 50° West, and files a flight plan to the appropriate air traffic services unit, being a flight plan involving the flight of the aircraft in that area, the operator of the aircraft shall, upon completion of the crossing, pay to NSL a charge of:

(a) in respect of chargeable air services provided by the Government of Denmark for such crossings:

(b) in respect of chargeable air services provided by the Government of Iceland for such crossings:

(c) in respect of other charges payable

(2) If an aircraft, wherever registered, without making a crossing between Europe and North America, makes one of the following crossings, that is to say between Greenland and Canada, Greenland and the United States of America, Greenland and Iceland or Iceland and Europe, the operator of the aircraft shall pay to NSL in respect of each crossing upon completion thereof, one third of the amount of the charges specified in sub-paragraph (1).

(3) If an aircraft, wherever registered, without making a crossing between Europe and North America, makes one of the following crossings, that is to say between Greenland and Europe, Iceland and Canada or Iceland and the United States of America, the operator of the aircraft shall pay to NSL in respect of each crossing upon completion thereof, two thirds of the amount of the charges specified in sub-paragraph (1).

(4) If an aircraft, wherever registered, without making a crossing for which a charge is specified in sub-paragraph (1), (2) or (3), makes a crossing

(a) between any point and Europe, or

(b) between any point and Iceland

in the course of which the aircraft does not cross the coast of North America but does cross the meridian of 30° West north of the 45th parallel North, the operator shall pay to NSL in respect of each crossing upon completion thereof, one third of the amount of the charges specified in sub-paragraph (1).

(5) If an aircraft, wherever registered, flies within the Reykjavik and NUUK Flight Information Regions (“FIRs”), the operator of the aircraft shall pay to NSL the following charges in addition to the charges set out in paragraphs 4(1) to 4(4) above –

(a) in respect of chargeable air services provided by the Government of Denmark a charge of 7.37DKK per unit of 100 km flown in the Reykjavik and NUUK FIRs; and

(b) in respect of chargeable air services provided by the Government of Iceland a charge of 2,296ISK per unit of 100 km flown in the Reykjavik and NUUK FIRs; and

(c) in respect of a flight which does not exceed FL285 in the Reykjavik and NUUK FIRs and in respect of a flight to or from any aerodrome in Greenland the charge specified in paragraphs 4(5)(a) and (b) shall be reduced by half.

(6) For the purposes of this Specification -

(a) a crossing shall be counted whether or not the aircraft takes off or lands in the areas mentioned;

(b) “Europe” shall not include Iceland or the Azores.

(7) The per crossing charge rates (1 January to 31 December) in this Specification are noted in local currencies, Danish Krone (DKK), Icelandic Krona (ISK), Canadian Dollar (CAD) and Pounds Sterling (GBP), which will apply until the CAA revokes this Specification Order and issues a new Specification Order.

The amount of the charge shall be paid to NSL in GBP. The per crossing charge rates in local currency will be converted to GBP on a monthly basis by NSL using the Bloomberg Closing Mid Rates from the last day of the month 2 months prior to the rate being implemented (e.g. the closing GBP/DKK, GBP/ISK or GBP/CAD rate at 30 November 2024 will be used to convert the charges to GBP for implementation on 1 January 2025 and so on).

Monthly rates payable, converted to GBP, can be obtained at the following website: https://www.nats.aero/do-it-online/Denmark-Iceland-Charge-Rates;

Circumstances in which charges are payable by the owner

5. If NSL is unable, after taking reasonable steps, to ascertain who is the operator, it may give notice to the owner of the aircraft that it will treat him as the operator for the purposes of this Specification until he establishes to the reasonable satisfaction of NSL that some other person is the operator; and from the time when the notice is given NSL shall be entitled, for so long as the owner is unable to establish as aforesaid that some other person is the operator, to treat the owner as if he were the operator, and for that purpose the provisions of this Specification (other than this paragraph) shall apply to the owner as if he were the operator.

Interest on late payment

6. (1) If the amount of the charge payable under paragraph 4 is not paid in cleared funds by the operator of the aircraft within 30 days of the date payment is demanded by NSL, interest calculated in accordance with sub-paragraph (2) below on the unpaid amount shall be paid from that day until the date when cleared funds are received by NSL.

(2) Interest payable under sub-paragraph (1) shall be simple interest calculated from day to day at the rate of 13.79%.

Disposal by NSL of charges received under the Specification

7. (1) Subject to sub-paragraphs (2) and (3) of this paragraph, NSL shall remit to the Governments of Denmark and Iceland such sums as it may receive under this Specification in respect of chargeable air services provided respectively by those Governments.

(2) With respect to the ICAO administrative fee provided for in paragraph 4(1)(c), NSL shall remit this sum to the International Civil Aviation Organisation in respect of chargeable air services provided by that Organisation.

(3) With respect to the NAT RVSM user charge provided for in paragraph 4(1)(c), NSL shall remit this sum to the International Civil Aviation Organisation in respect of the North Atlantic height monitoring system Reduced Vertical Separation Minima (RVSM) user charge.

(4) With respect to the NATS administrative fee provided for in paragraph 4(1)(c) above,NSL may deduct from the sums so received and may retain as a fee a sum not exceeding the amount noted.

By Order of the Civil Aviation Authority

J Spence, Secretary and General Counsel, Civil Aviation Authority, Aviation House, Beehive Ring Road, Crawley, West Sussex, RH6 0YR

16 December 2024

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Specification)

This Specification revokes and replaces the Civil Aviation Authority (Denmark and Iceland Charges) Specification 2024, which took effect on 1st January 2024.

This Specification has been issued following agreement between the Governments of the UK, Denmark and Iceland to change the basis on which user charges are converted from local currencies (namely Danish Krone (DKK), Icelandic Krona (ISK) and Canadian Dollar (CAD)) to Pounds Sterling (GBP). The amount of the charges shall be paid to NSL in GBP.

The exchange rates will be updated on a monthly basis by NSL using the Bloomberg Closing Mid Rates from the last day of the month 2 months prior to the rate being implemented (e.g. the closing GBP/DKK, GBP/ISK or GBP/CAD rate at 30 November 2024 will be used to convert the charges to GBP for implementation on 1 January 2025 and so on).

Monthly rates payable, converted to GBP, can be obtained at the following: https://www.nats.aero/do-it-online/Denmark-Iceland-Charge-Rates;

The charges are payable in pursuance of the Agreements on the Joint Financing of certain Air Navigation Services respectively in Greenland and the Faroe Islands and in Iceland, opened for signature in Geneva on 25th September 1956 (Cmnd. Nos. 677 and 678) as amended by the Protocols opened for signature at Montreal on 3rd November 1982 (Cmnd. Nos. 8844 and 8845) and as amended in 2008 pursuant to an ICAO State Letter IND/07/13 dated 12 July 2007.

In consequence of a decision of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organisation the sum which is to be deducted by NSL from the charges received and remitted to that Organisation in respect of chargeable air services provided by it is noted in paragraph 4.(1)(c). Additionally, the Council has established (pursuant to Article VI of the Arrangement on the Joint Financing of a North Atlantic Height Monitoring System) that the NAT RVSM user charge for the year 2025, and the charges of fees payable to NSL for expenses in billing and collection also noted in paragraph 4.(1)(c).

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(a) 2000 c.38.

(b) S.I. 2016/765.