International Air Transport Association and European Low Fares Airline Association v Department for Transport (2006) C-344/04 CJEU (Grand Chamber)
European Court of Justice, Grand Chamber
Facts
19 IATA is an association comprising 270 airlines from 130 countries, which carry 98% of scheduled international air passengers worldwide. ELFAA was established as an unincorporated association in January 2004 and represents the interests of 10 low-fare airlines from 9 European countries. These two associations each brought before the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, Queen’s Bench Division (Administrative Court), judicial review proceedings against the Department for Transport relating to the implementation of Regulation No 261/2004.
Issue(s)
20 The High Court of Justice, satisfied that the claimants’ arguments were not without substance, decided to refer to the Court of Justice the questions put forward by them contesting the validity of Regulation No 261/2004. […] The High Court of Justice of England and Wales, Queen’s Bench Division (Administrative Court), decided to stay proceedings and to refer the following questions to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling:
‘(1) Whether Article 6 of Regulation No 261/2004 is invalid on grounds that it is inconsistent with the […] Montreal Convention […], and in particular Articles 19, 22 and 29 [thereof], and whether this (in conjunction with any other relevant factors) affects the validity of the Regulation as a whole?
[…]
(3) Whether Articles 5 and 6 of Regulation No 261/2004 (or part thereof) are invalid on grounds that they are inconsistent with the principle of legal certainty, and if so whether this invalidity (in conjunction with any other relevant factors) affects the validity of the Regulation as a whole?
[…]
(5) Whether Articles 5 and 6 of Regulation No 261/2004 (or part thereof) are invalid on grounds that they are inconsistent with the principle of proportionality required of any Community measure, and if so whether this invalidity (in conjunction with any other relevant factors) affects the validity of the Regulation as a whole?
(6) Whether Articles 5 and 6 of Regulation No 261/2004 (or part thereof) are invalid on grounds that they discriminate, in particular, against the members of the second Claimant organisation in a manner that is arbitrary or not objectively justified, and if so whether this invalidity (in conjunction with any other relevant factors) affects the validity of the Regulation as a whole?
(7) Is Article 7 of the Regulation (or part thereof) void or invalid on grounds that the imposition of a fixed liability in the event of flight cancellation for reasons that are not covered by the extraordinary circumstances defence is discriminatory, fails to meet the standards of proportionality required of any Community measure, or is not based on any adequate reasoning, and if so whether this invalidity (in conjunction with any other relevant factors) affects the validity of the Regulation as a whole?
[…]’
Discussion
37 Article 6 of Regulation No 261/2004 provides that, in the event of a long delay to a flight, the operating air carrier must offer to assist and take care of the passengers concerned. It does not provide that the carrier may escape such obligations in the event of extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken.
38 IATA and ELFAA submitted in their applications to the referring court and submit before this Court that Article 6 of Regulation No 261/2004 is accordingly incompatible with the Montreal Convention which contains, in Articles 19 and 22(1), clauses excluding and limiting the air carrier’s liability in the event of delay in the carriage of passengers and which provides, in Article 29, that any action for damages, however founded, can only be brought subject to the conditions and limits set out in the Convention.
39 As to those submissions, Articles 19, 22 and 29 of the Montreal Convention are among the rules in the light of which the Court reviews the legality of acts of the Community institutions since, first, neither the nature nor the broad logic of the Convention precludes this and, second, those three articles appear, as regards their content, to be unconditional and sufficiently precise.
40 It is to be noted with regard to the interpretation of those articles that, in accordance with settled case-law, an international treaty must be interpreted by reference to the terms in which it is worded and in the light of its objectives. Article 31 of the Vienna Convention of 23 May 1969 on the Law of Treaties and Article 31 of the Vienna Convention of 21 March 1986 on the Law of Treaties between States and International Organisations or between International Organisations, which express, to this effect, general customary international law, state that a treaty is to be interpreted in good faith in accordance with the ordinary meaning to be given to its terms in their context and in the light of its object and purpose (see, to this effect, Case C-268/99 Jany and Others [2001] ECR I-8615, paragraph 35).
41 It is clear from the preamble to the Montreal Convention that the States party thereto recognised ‘the importance of ensuring protection of the interests of consumers in international carriage by air and the need for equitable compensation based on the principle of restitution’. It is therefore in the light of this objective that the scope which the authors of the Convention intended to give to Articles 19, 22 and 29 is to be assessed.
42 It is apparent from those provisions of the Montreal Convention, which are contained in Chapter III headed ‘Liability of the carrier and extent of compensation for damage’, that they lay down the conditions under which any actions for damages against air carriers may be brought by passengers who invoke damage sustained because of delay. They limit the carrier’s liability to 4 150 SDRs for each passenger.
43 Any delay in the carriage of passengers by air, and in particular a long delay, may, generally speaking, cause two types of damage. First, excessive delay will cause damage that is almost identical for every passenger, redress for which may take the form of standardised and immediate assistance or care for everybody concerned, through the provision, for example, of refreshments, meals and accommodation and of the opportunity to make telephone calls. Second, passengers are liable to suffer individual damage, inherent in the reason for travelling, redress for which requires a case-by-case assessment of the extent of the damage caused and can consequently only be the subject of compensation granted subsequently on an individual basis.
44 It is clear from Articles 19, 22 and 29 of the Montreal Convention that they merely govern the conditions under which, after a flight has been delayed, the passengers concerned may bring actions for damages by way of redress on an individual basis, that is to say for compensation, from the carriers liable for damage resulting from that delay.
45 It does not follow from these provisions, or from any other provision of the Montreal Convention, that the authors of the Convention intended to shield those carriers from any other form of intervention, in particular action which could be envisaged by the public authorities to redress, in a standardised and immediate manner, the damage that is constituted by the inconvenience that delay in the carriage of passengers by air causes, without the passengers having to suffer the inconvenience inherent in the bringing of actions for damages before the courts.
46 The Montreal Convention could not therefore prevent the action taken by the Community legislature to lay down, in exercise of the powers conferred on the Community in the fields of transport and consumer protection, the conditions under which damage linked to the abovementioned inconvenience should be redressed. Since the assistance and taking care of passengers envisaged by Article 6 of Regulation No 261/2004 in the event of a long delay to a flight constitute such standardised and immediate compensatory measures, they are not among those whose institution is regulated by the Convention. The system prescribed in Article 6 simply operates at an earlier stage than the system which results from the Montreal Convention.
47 The standardised and immediate assistance and care measures do not themselves prevent the passengers concerned, should the same delay also cause them damage conferring entitlement to compensation, from being able to bring in addition actions to redress that damage under the conditions laid down by the Montreal Convention.
48 Those measures, which enhance the protection afforded to passengers’ interests and improve the conditions under which the principle of restitution is applicable to passengers, cannot therefore be considered inconsistent with the Montreal Convention.
[…]
92 It follows from the foregoing considerations that Articles 5, 6 and 7 of Regulation No 261/2004 are not invalid by reason of infringement of the principle of proportionality.
[…]
99 It follows that Articles 5, 6 and 7 of Regulation No 261/2004 are not invalid by reason of a breach of the principle of equal treatment.
100 In view of all the foregoing considerations, the answer to the first seven questions referred to the Court must be that examination thereof has revealed no factor of such a kind as to affect the validity of Articles 5, 6 and 7 of Regulation No 261/2004.
Useful for
Treaty provisions considered
Legislation considered
EU Regulation 261/2004/Key subjects or concepts
Judicial Review/ Local Law on Consumers/ Scope under MC99/Appeals history
No relevant appeals or appeal history identified for this case.Other case information
Lawyers or counsel before the European Court of Justice, Grand Chamber:No counsel or legal team identified for this case.
Additional case references or citations:
International Air Transport Association and European Low Fares Airline Association v Department for Transport, Case C-344/04, ECLI:EU:C:2006:10.
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