Brussels, 21/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - At the end of March the European Commission is due to present revised rules on air passengers' rights. Those rights must be extended and the current regulation adjusted in order to comply with various rulings on the matter by the European Court of Justice.
In principle, according to sources familiar with the dossier, the Commission will, on 22 March, present the revised version of Regulation No261/2004, dating back to 2004, on the compensation and assistance to be provided to passengers if boarding is refused, or if there are flight cancellations or major flight delays.
First and foremost, implementation of the current regulation must be enhanced, as it leaves much to be desired. Revision would make it possible to clarify certain grey areas in the application of the regulation and establish what the obligations and responsibilities of each party are. Several rulings of the Court of Justice have been given on this regulation, while others are expected in the near future.
The Dutch press reports that the Commission is now proposing to compensate passengers up to €600 for flight delays of over five hours (hitherto, it was simply in the event of cancellation or overbooking). It is also possible that carriers will no longer be able to escape their obligation to pay compensation by citing technical failure. Furthermore, other sources familiar with the dossier mention that compensation should be paid by European airlines, even if delays and cancellations occur outside European airspace and are due to third country airlines.
Revision should not influence the one carry-on bag rule or tariff transparency for online reservations, despite Parliament's repeated requests on this subject.
Peter van Dalen (ECR, Netherlands), who is a member of the parliamentary committee responsible for transport, commented on the ongoing revision in the Dutch press, on 20 February, saying that the most important thing is to ensure that everything is quite clear for passengers. Current legislation is too vague about air passengers' rights. Tour operators, airlines and airports blame each other for anything that goes wrong. The consumer, van Dalen continued, pays the cost of this, and that must change. (MD/transl.jl)