11.5.1999 Official Journal of the European Communities L 121/21 COMMISSION DECISION of 27 April 1999 on the application of Article 9 of Council Directive 96/67/EC to Berlin Tegel Airport (Berliner Flughafen GmbH) (notified under document number C(1999) 1066) (Only the German text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (1999/316/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Directive 96/67/EC of 15 October 1996 on access to the groundhandling market at Community airports ('), and in particular Article 9(5) thereof, Having regard to the request for approval of the decision of the German authorities of 26 January 1999 and after consulting those authorities, After consulting the Advisory Committee, Whereas: I. SCOPE OF THE EXEMPTION NOTIFIED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY 1. Notification by the German authorities (1) By letter of 28 January 1999, which the Commis- sion received on 29 January, the German authori- ties requested approval of the decision of the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany of 23 July 1999 to grant to Berlin Tegel airport (Berliner Flughafen GmbH) an exemption to: — ban self handling, and — reserve for Berlin Tegel Airport (Berliner Flughafen GmbH) the provision of services to third parties, for the categories of services referred to in points 3, 4 (with regard to the physical handling of freight and mail, whether incoming, outgoing or being transferred, between the air terminal and the aircraft), 5.4 and 5.6 of the Annex to the Directive. This exemption is to be granted, on the basis of Article 9(1)(b) and (d) of the Directive, until 31 December 2000. () OJ L 272, 25.10.1996, p. 36. (20 Pursuant to Article 9(3) of the Directive, the Commission published an extract from the said notification in the Official Journal of the Euro- pean Communities (*) and invited interested parties to submit comments. 3) In accordance with Article 9(5) of the Directive, the Commission consulted the German Government on its draft evaluation on 22 and 24 March 1999. Basis of the exemption (4)  The general rules for access to the groundhandling services market are set out in Articles 6 and 7 of the Directive. They clearly state the principle that most categories of groundhandling services should be opened up to the maximum possible extent. For an airport with a volume of traffic like that of Berlin Tegel the Directive provides for the right to self-handle from 1 January 1998 and opens up the market for services to third parties from 1 January 1999. However, in order to take into account the specific situation and role of an airport, and in particular the safety, security, space and capacity constraints which can arise in certain parts of most airports, the Directive does not impose complete liberalisation for four categories of services located air-side, i.e. in a particularly sensitive area of the airport, but does require a minimum degree of liberalisation of both self handling and the supply of services to third parties. The categories concerned are ramp handling, baggage handling, fuel handling and certain freight and mail handling operations. (5)  Article 9 of Council Directive 96/67/EC also takes account of the fact that, in certain very special cases, severe space and capacity constraints prevent the opening-up of the market to the degree provided for. In such cases, exemptions may be granted on a temporary basis to give the airports () OJ C 64, 63.1999, pp. 9-11.