CSTAR veut mobiliser l'industrie contre des demandes de l'IATA

Voici, sous forme brute et en anglais seulement, un communiqué envoyé par CSTAR ce matin concernant les demandes d'IATA en matière d'audit.


Urgent Call to Action - IATA Audit Requirements
Please Read Very Carefully

Dear Colleagues:

I promised to report back to you regarding BSP Canada Memorandum 666, dated 02 November 2006.

I have now reviewed the matter and wish to provide my findings:

1. As of April 2007 and thereafter depending on the end of an agency's fiscal year, IATA is seeking to force all travel agencies in Canada to provide a full "Audit Report" of their financial statements. IATA is alleging that providing a "Review Engagement Report" or "Compilation Report" will no longer be acceptable.

2. The cost difference to provide a full "Audit Report" versus any other type of previously IATA-accepted financial report is enormous. CSTAR has contacted several chartered accountants over the last few days, and the cost for a full "Audit Report", even for a small business, can average as much as CAD 10,000.00 per year.

3. According to BSP Canada, in lieu of the "Audit Report", agencies can provide IATA with a minimum CAD 25,000.00 letter of credit. However, contradictory language in Resolution 800f implies that even if an "Audit Report" is provided, the amount of any prospective and required letter of credit would be reduced by the excess of liquid current assets over current liabilities as it pertains to the travel agency business being evaluated.

4. CSTAR has compared all of the language in the existing Resolution 800f, the proposed version of 800f as debated by the last IATA Passenger Agency Conference (PAConf) in GVA, and the final version of Resolution 800f as approved by the Passenger Agency Conference in June 2005. Nowhere in any of this documentation or minutes of the PAConf is there any statement or verbiage which has mandated or authorized BSP Canada to change its long-standing policy and interpretation of Resolution 800f of accepting "Review Engagement Reports" or "Compilation Reports". The change appears to be a unilateral decision made by BSP Canada without discussion or approval of the relevant IATA PAConf or the airlines which are most impacted by BSP Canada decisions.

5. The impact and cost factors of forcing agencies to tie-up working capital in letters of credit and to endure astronomical costs of engaging a full, formal "Audit Report", particularly with no visible consent for the latter from the IATA PAConf, leads CSTAR to believe that the decision regarding these alleged changes to 800f are solely based on interpretation which would reverse years of prior interpretation and practice by BSP Canada.

6. The change in interpretation is not even warranted nor could it be defended by the facts. In 2004, a total of 11 Canadian agencies defaulted to IATA for an unrecovered value of CAD 2.1 million dollars. In 2005, a total of 6 Canadian agencies defaulted for an unrecovered value of CAD 1.8 million dollars. Thus, rather than the risk to IATA airlines having increased, to the contrary, there has been a 17% decrease in the default/risk to BSP Canada airlines. Accordingly, there is no justification for any tightening or re- interpretation of the existing rules.

7. The minutes of the last meeting of the Canada/Bermuda Agency Programme Joint Council, held 26 April 2006 among IATA, ACTA, and several BSP Canada airlines, states that the following was discussed: "Termination of IATA/ACTA ID Card Contract – The termination letter was presented to ACTA in accordance with the original agreement. An overview of Accreditation Activities was provided. This included stats on new applications, changes, financial evaluations and a review of Resolution 800f."

Why did ACTA not provide a warning to agencies that Resolution 800f was discussed and changes proposed? Where was ACTA on overseeing this matter? How could ACTA have done nothing in the interim? Is ACTA completely asleep in dealing with these matters?

8. There is no question that this new financial audit interpretation will cause significant financial harm to the vast majority of accredited agencies in Canada. The enormous costs foisted upon agencies in a largely commission-less environment will be too much to bear for many and is a policy which will effectively destroy the stability and size of the agency distribution system in Canada.

9. CSTAR believes that many, if not most airlines in BSP Canada have no knowledge of the proposed BSP Canada audit plan, and CSTAR believes that most airlines would not tolerate a dismantling of the agency distribution channel which many carriers rely upon for selling their products and services.

Accordingly, CSTAR announces an urgent "Call to Action":

a) CSTAR has posted a letter to all airline executives in Canada on its web site: www.cstar.ca/audits

b) We encourage all travel agencies to write to as many airline sales reps as possible, particularly those airline sales personnel with whom your travel agency maintains a good, productive sales relationship or has a special airline pricing or fares contract.

c) We encourage you, in your own words, to stress the damage that IATA's audit costs will cause your travel agency, and we suggest that you stress the risk to the agency distribution channel in Canada which would follow if agencies could not sustain these audit and letter of credit costs. Please reference CSTAR's letter to airlines by providing a link to: www.cstar.ca/audits

d) If you wish, please copy CSTAR in your e-mail to your airline sales representatives: audits@cstar.ca

This matter is of the utmost importance, and your help with the e-mail campaign to airline sales personnel described above is crucial. I wish to personally assure you that CSTAR is doing everything it can to protect agencies from these added unbearable costs.

Best regards,