argomento: News del mese - Diritto Internazionale e Comunitario

Articoli Correlati: Delayed flights - air carrier - compensatory penalty

On 29 September 2022, in the judgment of case C-597/20, the E.U. Court of Justice clarified that the compensatory financial penalty for inconveniences and delays in a flight is imposed by a national administrative authority responsible for the correct application of the European Regulation on the rights of air passengers. But for the attribution of this competence to be legitimate, the national law must guarantee the sanctioned air carrier the possibility of appealing to a judge against the payment imposed. Furthermore, the specific competence to raise this sanction in the face of individual appeals must be expressly attributed. In the specific case, the air carrier was required to pay 600 euros per passenger for a flight that was delayed by 3 hours. The judge for preliminary ruling to the E.U. Court, once the judicial appeal of the air carrier against the compensatory pecuniary sanction was brought, asked the Union judges to clarify whether the jurisdiction of the administrative authority that had raised the sanction then challenged was legitimate. As mentioned - under certain conditions - the Cgue’s answer was affirmative.