Brussels, 15/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - Member states' bodies responsible for ensuring respect for passenger rights in that country is not the right body to process compensation requests from individuals for cancelled flights.
This was the opinion proposed by European Court of Justice judge Yves Bot in Case C-145/15 on Thursday 14 January to clarify the powers of such national bodies which are to be set up in each member state under EU Regulation 261/2004. The regulation lays down common rules for passenger aid and compensation for refusal to embark, cancellation or serious delays to a flight.
The main case concerns a number of cancellations of flights from the Netherlands. In order to obtain compensation, passengers turned to the Dutch secretary of state for infrastructure and the environment, who was appointed to introduce coercive measures and fines on airlines infringing the European regulation. The secretary of state rejected the requests, however, stating that he did not have the power to take coercive measures for individual requests for compensation. He said he could only act when an airline symmetrically refuses to comply with its duties.
In his conclusions, the European judge argues that this interpretation is correct, saying that national bodies for ensuring the respect of air passenger rights cannot introduce coercive measures against an airline in individual cases to force it to pay the compensation owed to a passenger. He said the point of the bodies is to ensure that airlines meet their duties in an overarching manner, i.e. that they ensure that passengers have been informed of their rights. In the event of violation of said rights or to exercise the right to compensation, he said passengers need to take their case to a civil court. (Original version in French by Jan Kordys)