14.2.2000 Official Journal of the European Communities L 39/67 COMMISSION DECISION of 10 January 2000 on the application of Article 9 of Council Directive 96/67/EC to Funchal airport (notified under document number C(1999) 5194) (Only the Portuguese text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2000/123[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 (1), and in particular Article 9(5) thereof, Having regard to the decision of the Portuguese authorities, as notified to the Commission on 11 October 1999, and after consulting those authorities, After consulting the Advisory Committee, Whereas: 1. Scope of the exemption notified by the Government of Portugal 1.1. Notification by the Portuguese authorities By letter received by the Commission on 11 October 1999, the Portuguese authorities notified a request for approval of the decision of the Portuguese Government to grant Funchal airport an exemption to: — restrict self-handling to two users for the categories of services listed under point 2 of the Annex to the Directive, — restrict  self-handling to a single user for the categories of services listed under points 3, 4, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5 and 5.6 of the Annex to the Directive. This exemption is granted, on the basis of Article 9(1)(c) and (d) of the Directive, until 31 December 2000. () OJ L 272, 25.10.1996, p. 36. () Pursuant to Article 9(3) of the Directive, the Commission published an extract from this notification in the Official Journal of the European Communities of 25 November 1999 (3) and invited interested parties to submit comments. In accordance with Article 9(5) of the Directive, the Commission consulted the Portuguese Government on its draft evaluation on 8 December 1999. Basis of the exemption The general rules for access to the groundhandling services market are set out in Articles 6 and 7 of the Directive. These provisions 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 Funchal with 1,7 million passengers in 1997, the Directive provides for recognition of the right to self-handle as from 1 January 1998. 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, corresponding in particular to points 3, 4 and 5 listed in the Annex and covered by this Decision. As for the right to ‘passenger self-handling, this is not normally restricted in the context of self-handling rights and each carrier should be able to make use of this right. However, Article 9 of Directive 96/67/EC also takes account of the fact that, in very special cases, severe space andfor capacity problems 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 time to overcome the constraints. () 0] C 337, 25.11.1999, p. 4.