On 29 September 2022, the Court of Justice handed down its judgment in Case C‑597/20, Polskie Linie Lotnicze «LOT» S.A. contro Budapest Főváros Kormányhivatala, on the interpretation of Article 16(1) and (2) of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004. The request has been made in proceedings between the air carrier Polskie Linie Lotnicze ‘LOT’ S.A. (“LOT”) and the Budapest Főváros Kormányhivatala (Consumer Protection Inspectorate of the Budapest Metropolitan Government Office) concerning the decision by which the latter ordered LOT to pay compensation under Article 7 of Regulation No 261/2004.

Following a delay of more than three hours of their flight from New York to Budapest, some passengers brought the matter before the Consumer Protection Inspectorate asking it to order LOT to pay them, by way of redress, the compensation provided for in Article 7 of Regulation No 261/2004. That inspectorate, therefore, ordered LOT to pay compensation in the amount of EUR 600 to each passenger concerned. Taking the view that the Consumer Protection Inspectorate did not have the power to order the payment of such compensation, LOT challenged that decision before the Fővárosi Törvényszék (Budapest High Court; the “referring court”) which, in light of the need to interpret the relevant European legislation, decided to stay the proceedings and to ask to the Court of Justice whether Article 16 of Regulation No 261/2004 must be interpreted as meaning that a national body responsible for the enforcement of that regulation may compel an air carrier to pay compensation, within the meaning of its Article 7, due to passengers under that regulation, where an individual complaint has been made to that national body by a passenger.

According to the Court, Member States not only have discretion as to the powers they wish to confer on their national bodies for the purpose of protecting passengers’ rights, but can also empower those bodies, in order to remedy inadequate protection for air passengers, to adopt measures in response to individual complaints. The conferral of a power of enforcement on a national body referred to in Article 16(1) of Regulation No 261/2004, however, cannot deprive either passengers or air carriers of the possibility of bringing a legal action before the competent national court.

Marco Stillo