The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that the EU’s plan to levy an emissions tax on airlines by including them in the Emissions Trading System (ETS) is valid.

The case had been brought by North American airlines including United Continental and American Airlines and the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

All carriers flying into or out of any airport in the EU will now be subject to the carbon emissions levy from 1 January.

Europe’s plan to include all carriers in the scheme has attracted fierce opposition from North American and Far Eastern carriers who have argued that the EU does not have the power to impose such taxes on non-European airlines.

In a rare show of bipartisan support the US House of Representatives voted in October to exempt all US passenger and cargo airlines from the ETS saying that it was a tax beyond European jurisdiction.

In a letter dated 16 December the US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton wrote to European Commissioners urging them to stop plans to include all the world’s carriers in the scheme.

For months foreign airlines, governments and trade associations have been warning of a trade war if Europe carried on with its plans to make all the world’s carriers subject to the EU scheme.

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