In recent years, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) has increasingly received requests regarding the interpretation of Regulation (EU) no. 261/2004 [1] (“Regulations”) establishing general rules for compensation and assistance to passengers in case of denied boarding and cancellation or long delay of flights.

The Regulation applies to all flights departing from any European Union (“EU”) airport operated by any airline and to flights to any EU airport operated by any EU airline. The regulation enshrines the right to receive compensation in case of flight cancellationif they are not notified of the cancellation:

• at least two weeks before the scheduled time of departure;
• two weeks to seven days before the scheduled time of departure and are offered a rerouting that allows them to depart no later than two hours before the scheduled time of departure and reach their final destination less than four hours after the scheduled time of arrival;
• less than seven days before the scheduled time of departure and are granted a rerouting that allows them to depart no later than one hour before the scheduled time of departure and arrive at their final destination less than two hours after the expected time of departure.

The only situation where the airline is not obliged to pay compensation is when it is proven that the cancellation was caused “exceptional circumstances that could not be avoided despite taking all possible measures.”

The maximum amount of compensation is 600 eurosdepending on the type of flight and its distance.

In a recent decision [2], the EU Court analyzed whether Art. 16 The provision must be interpreted in the sense that the national authority responsible for the application of the Regulation may oblige a airline when paying compensation to passengers, within the meaning of Art. 7 Regulationswhen there is an individual passenger complaint.

In fact, the provisions of Art. 16 The provision establishes that:

• the national authorities designated for this purpose shall take the necessary measures to ensure compliance with the rights of passengers;
• affected passengers can appeal claims competent authorities regarding possible non-compliance with the provisions of the Regulation;
• sanctions In Romania, the competent national authority responsible for supervising the compliance of passengers’ rights under the Member Regulation for non-compliance with the Regulation must be effective, proportionate and persuasive.
• This is National Consumer Protection Authority (ANPC). Failure of an air carrier to provide compensation to an entitled passenger is a violation is punishable by a fine from 1,000 to 2,500 lei. It can be understood that this amount is far from effective or deterrent, but it depends on the specific features of each violation.

The EU Court confirmed at least three particularly important aspects:

• Member States have considerable freedom of maneuver regarding the powers they wish to confer on the competent domestic authorities, they may to take action on individual complaints;
• recognition of coercive competence in favor of the designated national authority under no circumstances can deprive passengers or the airline of the opportunity to obtain a remedy;
• the transfer of enforcement powers to a national body comes to the aid of passengers, who in most cases have to endure the inconvenience inherent in the introduction of legal actions. Such competence allows, for reasons of simplicity, speed and efficiency, guarantee a high level of air passenger protectionwhile avoiding overloading the courts with a potentially large number of compensation claims.

As a result, the EU Court confirmed the fact that the provisions of Art. 16 The provision must be interpreted in the sense that Member States have the possibility to authorize the national authority responsible for forcing the air transport operator to pay compensation to passengerswhen a passenger makes an individual complaint, provided that he and the airline have legal remedies.

In Romania, the ANPC (together with the European Consumer Center ECC) has the mandate to support air passengers in the recovery process after consumers have first approached air transport operators or intermediary travel agencies for amicable settlement of claims.

Another decision of the EU Court [3] has recently clarified the concept of “direct flight“.

The European Court established that this concept covers a transport operation consisting of several flights carried out by different operating air transport operators, which are not related to each other by a special legal relationship, when these flights are combined by a travel agency that issues an invoice for common price and issues a single ticket for this operation.

Under these conditions, a passenger departing from an airport located in the territory of a Member State and experiencing a long delay after arriving at the destination of the last flight (a destination no longer located in the territory of any Member State) may exercise the right to compensation in accordance with to Art. 7 Regulations.

Thanks to the provided jurisprudence, the Court of Justice of the EU confirms the need to create an effective basis for providing compensation to those passengers whose flights have been canceled/delayed, especially in the context of the pandemic that has occurred in recent years, where the rights of passengers have been grossly violated, and many of them are still waiting for proper compensation.

Footnotes:

[1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/RO/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32004R0261

[2] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/RO/TXT/?uri=CELEX:62020CJ0597

[3] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/RO/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:62021CJ0436&from=EN

Article signed by Oana Zamă, partner – [email protected] – STOICA & Asociatiții