L 39/74 Official Journal of the European Communities 14.2.2000 COMMISSION DECISION of 10 January 2000 on the application of Article 9 of Council Directive 96/67/EC to Oporto (Francisco Sd Carneiro) (notified under document number C(1999) 5196) (Only the Portuguese text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2000/124/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 registered by the Commission on 11 October 1999, the Portuguese authorities notified a request to approve the decision of the Portuguese Government to grant to Oporto (Francisco S4 Carneiro) airport an exemption to limit to four the number of users authorised to self-handle for the categories of services listed under point 2 of the Annex to the Directive. This exemption is granted, on the basis of Article 9(1)(d) of the Directive, until 31 August 2001. 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 (?) and invited interested parties to submit comments. () OJ L 272, 25.10.1996, p. 36. (3) 0] C 337, 25.10.1999, p. 5. (3) (6) In accordance with Article 9(5) of the Directive, the Commission consulted the Portuguese Government on its draft evaluation on 3 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 Oporto, the Directive provides for recognition of the right to self-handle as from 1 January 1998. 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 time to overcome the constraints. These exemptions can therefore be only exceptional in nature and are not intended to automatically give airports an extra transitional period in addition to that already provided for in Article 1 of the Directive. An exemption can be granted only on the basis of specific space or capacity constraints. This is the basis on which the Portuguese authorities granted the exemption covered by this decision in accordance with Article 23 of Portuguese Decree-Law No 275/99 of 23 July 1999 transposing Directive 96/67EC into national law (3). 1.2. Presentation of the airport Oporto airport covers a total surface area of 319 hectares and has one passenger terminal at the southernmost point of a north/south runway 3 480 metres long. The terminal has a capacity of 3 million passengers per year which allows no gate (}) Didrio da Reptiblica - 23.7.99 - I Series-A No 170, p. 4588.