The Canadian Transportation Agency Launches its Consultations on Air Services Price Advertising Regulations

OTTAWA, Feb. 13, 2012 /CNW/ - The Canadian Transportation Agency today launched its consultations to seek broad public input on the development of new regulations for air services price advertising. The intent of the regulations is to ensure greater transparency for Canadians and allow consumers to easily determine the total price of an air service in order to make an informed choice.

On December 16, 2011, the Government of Canada announced that the Canadian Transportation Agency would proceed with developing regulations requiring air carriers to include all fees and taxes in their advertised prices as per clause 27 of An Act to Amend the Canada Transportation Act and The Railway Safety Act and to Make Consequential Amendments to Other Acts.

The online consultations will take place from February 13 to February 26, 2012 and can be accessed through the Canadian Transportation Agency Web site at www.cta.gc.ca/airservicesadvertising .

"We are taking an inclusive approach by consulting with individual Canadians and stakeholders, including industry and consumer groups," said Geoff Hare, Chair and CEO of the Canadian Transportation Agency. "The collective input from this consultation process will be extremely valuable to the Agency in developing effective regulations."

By joining the online dialogue and participating in the Agency's innovative Idea Forum and/or providing a formal written submission, the air industry, consumers and other interested parties across the country will have the opportunity to submit their ideas and comments about regulations on air services price advertising. It will also allow Canadians across the country to connect with each other to share their ideas on how to easily determine the full cost of air services in order to make informed choices.

"In addition to our online consultations, we are meeting with the air industry and consumer groups to seek their views on advertising prices for air services," stated Mr. Hare. "We want to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to be heard."

The input we receive will contribute to the Agency's drafting of airfare price advertising regulations. Once this part of the consultation phase is completed, the Agency will draft regulations and pre-publish them in Part I of the Canada Gazette, to give all Canadians the opportunity to review and comment on the draft regulations. It is expected that the final regulations will be published in Part II of the Canada Gazette later this year.

About the Canadian Transportation Agency

The Canadian Transportation Agency is an independent administrative body of the Government of Canada. It performs two key functions within the federal transportation system:

• As a quasi-judicial tribunal, the Agency, informally and through formal adjudication, resolves a range of commercial and consumer transportation-related disputes, including accessibility issues for persons with disabilities. It operates like a court when adjudicating disputes.
• As an economic regulator, the Agency makes determinations and issues authorities, licences and permits to transportation carriers under federal jurisdiction.

For more information on the Agency's consultations for Air Services Price Advertising Regulations, visit Idea Forum.

News Media Enquiries: [email protected] or 819-934-3448

General Public Enquiries: [email protected] or 1-888-222-2592 or TTY [insert tel number]

To keep up-to-date with our latest news releases and other information, subscribe to our electronic mail service.