Advisory Opinion of the Eurasian Economic Union Court of 7 April 2025: The Problem of the Relationship between the Rules on the Freedom to Provide Services and the Provisions of International Air Law

INTRODUCTION. This article presents an analysis of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) Court's advisory opinion of April 7, 2025, clarifying the provisions of the EAEU Treaty regarding the common services market. In considering the case, the Union Court was required to address questions related to the application of freedom of services provisions to air transportation services within the Union. The main issue addressed before the Court was to what extent the cross-border air transportation within the EAEU is governed by international air law and by EAEU law. Given three dissenting opinions, consensus on this issue was not reached. Nevertheless, the Grand Collegium formulated a legal position according to which freedom of services provisions apply to air transportation services to the extent that they do not conflict with common transport policy. Accordingly, member states cannot impose additional restrictions, and the Eurasian Economic Commission has jurisdiction in this area.
MATERIALS AND METHODS. The methodological basis of the study was formed by traditional general scientific and specialized methods of understanding legal phenomena: the comparative legal method; the method of scientific analysis; the formal legal method; and the method of synthesizing socio-legal phenomena.
RESEARCH RESULTS. As a result of the study, the author concluded that international air transportation within the EAEU is regulated by a complex set of legal norms, including international air law, the national laws of member states, and the EAEU's law regarding the free movement of services and coordinated transport policy.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. Current international air law, including the 1944 Chicago Convention, does not impose any restrictions on the extension of provisions on free trade in services to commercial air transportation. In fact, two parallel systems can be identified regarding the regulation of international air transportation: the first is based on the Chicago Convention; the other is an economic system based on bilateral agreements or a regional system. EAEU law provides for the creation of a common air transportation market, but it has not yet been formed. At the same time, member states must not introduce new restrictions on trade in transport services that did not exist at the time of the conclusion of the EAEU treaty. EAEU legal norms regarding trade of services and coordinated (harmonized) transport policy and international air law do not compete, but, together with national law, form a complementary legal system in the field of air transportation.

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