Order 02-3-4

Order 02-3-4

International Air Transport Association

Order 02-3-04
OST-01-10531

Issued March 6, 2002
Served March 11, 2002

Order

Approval and Grant of Antitrust Immunity for Third-Party Technical Advisers to Participate in PASDEX

In support of its application, IATA states that in May 2001, the PAC established PASDEX to maintain the data interchange standards for the exchange of passenger ticketing^-and related settlement data among airlines, agents and global distribution systems. PASDEX's role is advisory; it will make technical recommendations to the IATA Global Customer Advisory Committee-Passenger. If those recommendations are adopted by the committee and subsequently by the PAC, they will be submitted to the Department for review and approval..

IATA states further that in the past, the Department in a series of orders has given approval and immunity for third parties specializing in data exchange standards and procedures, such as CRS vendors, ticketing system providers, software suppliers, and data processing centers, to participate as technical advisers to the technical facilitation working groups that preceded PASDEX.

Specifically, PASDEX will review proposals to amend global data interchange standards for the transmission of passenger agency sales and ticketing data, and will formulate technical specifications to satisfy new business requirements related to the billing and settlement process. The terms of reference for PASDEX are set forth in Attachment A.

PASDEX is assuming the responsibilities formerly assigned to the Data Interchange SubGroup (DISG) and the Billing and Settlement Plan Committee (BSPC) Support Group (BSG). The Department in Order 98-4-20, April 17, 1998, gave approval and immunization for third parties to serve as technical advisers to DISG and BSG, but under the terms of the order, approval for such third party participation expired with the dissolution of the BSPC and DISG in 1999. Both have now been reconstituted as PASDEX.

By: Paul Gretch