Germany takes action against Emirates Airline tariffs

On 20 November 2009 Deutsche Welle reported that the German government was taking action against sixth freedom carrier Emirates Airline to stop it undercutting Lufthansa in the Germany-South Africa and Germany-Singapore markets. On 19 November 2009 Reuters report gives further coverage, suggesting that the action was not just directed at Emirates.

A report of reaction in The National dated 26 November 2009 refers to "1970s protectionism".

I was aware of a European law prohibiting fifth freedom price leading by non-EU airlines but had thought that this was limited to flights within the EU. I do not have access to the tariffs article of the Germany-UAE air services agreement which will probably be relevant. I think the current relevant European law is available here but would welcome comments on this.

Enforcing tariff regulation is very hard to do given the thousands of international air tariffs in existence.