Commentary Part 1 – Airports Licence conditions Section 21: Content and effect of licence conditions
93.Generic examples of provisions which may be included in licence conditions are set out in subsection (1). The examples are neither a prescriptive nor an exhaustive list of provisions that may be included.
94.Subsections (3) and (4) state that a condition of the licence may be modified without recourse to the standard licence modification process (set out in sections 22 to 30), provided the specific requirements of subsection (3) are met in that licence condition. However, the proposed inclusion of such a provision in the licence condition would itself be subject to the standard licence modification process (including possible appeal to the Competition Commission).
95.The requirements to be met under subsection (3) are that the licence condition specifies or describes the circumstances in which it may be modified, the period(s) within which the power may be exercised and the types of modification which may be made. For example, a licence condition may require information to be provided by a specified date each year but provide also that the CAA may replace that date with a different date at any time in the next 3 years if the number of passenger movements in a stated period exceeds a stated figure.
96.Such a provision may be modified through the standard licence modification process or through its own self-modifying provisions.
97.Subsection (5) concerns licence conditions containing exceptions relating to, or operating by reference to, financial arrangements entered into by the licence holder or a connected person before section 3 of the Act comes into force (“derogations”). Where a licence condition contains such derogations it may not specify that the exception will cease to have effect on a stated date or in specified circumstances, or provide for the CAA to determine which financial arrangements benefit from the exception. The effect of this provision is that a derogation can only be removed by use of the standard licence modification process under sections 22 to 30 including the special rules that apply to a licence modification in such a case (see the notes on section 23 below).
98.Subsection (6) states that a licence condition does not have effect when the licence holder is not the operator of any part of the airport area for which the licence is granted or when the CAA makes a determination that the airport area is no longer a dominant area located at a dominant airport (see also the notes on sections 7, 9 and 10 above).