DENIED BOARDING (COMPENSATION AND ASSISTANCE TO AIR PASSENGERS) [ S.L.378.14 1 SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 378.14 DENIED BOARDING (COMPENSATION AND ASSISTANCE TO AIR PASSENGERS) REGULATIONS 15th July, 2011 LEGAL NOTICE 280 of 2011, as amended by Act XVI of
- The title of these regulations is the Denied Boarding (Compensation and Assistance to Air Passengers) Regulations.
- In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires: "the Act" means the Consumer Affairs Act; "Civil Court" means the Civil Court (Commercial Section) established by article 3 of the Civil Court (Establishment of Sections) Order; Citation. Interpretation. Amended by: XVI.2019.
- Cap.
- S.L. 12.
- "the Director General" means the Director General (Consumer Affairs) as defined in the Act; "operating air carrier" means an air carrier that performs or intends to perform a flight under a contract with a passenger or on behalf of another person, legal or natural, having a contract with that passenger; and "Regulation 261/2004" means Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights, and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 295/91 (Text with EEA relevance).
- Exclusively for the purposes of these regulations, "passengers" are classified as "consumers" according to paragraph (iii) of the definition "consumer" in article 2 of the Act. Exclusive interpretation. 4.
(1)For the purpose of Article 16 of Regulation 261/ 2004, the Director General is the designated person responsible for the monitoring and the investigations concerning the compliance with the provisions of Regulation 261/2004 with regard to flights from airports situated in Malta and flights from a third country to airports situated in Malta. Designated person, investigations and judicial proceedings. Substituted by: XVI.2019.72.
(2)Except where competences are assigned to the Civil Court by the Act or by the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority Act, in discharging his functions under these regulations, the Director General shall have the same powers as prescribed under the Act, including the power to investigate and to institute judicial proceedings, as established by the Act, before the Civil Court. Cap.
- An operating air carrier that fails to comply with an obligation imposed on it by Articles 4 to 6, 10, 11 or 14 of Regulation Penalties. Substituted by: XVI.2019.
- 2 [ S.L.378.14 DENIED BOARDING (COMPENSATION AND ASSISTANCE TO AIR PASSENGERS) 261/2004 shall be guilty of an infringement punishable by a penalty of not less than four hundred and seventy euro (€470) and not exceeding five thousand euro (€5,000): Provided that in the case of non-compliance with a compliance order, the Civil Court shall impose a daily penalty of not less than one hundred and twenty euro (€120) and not more than two hundred and thirty euro (€230) for each day of non-compliance. Due diligence defence. 6.
(1)Subject to the following provisions of this regulation, in proceedings against any operating air carrier for an infringement under regulation 5, it shall be a defence for that operating air carrier to show that it took all reasonable steps and exercised all due diligence to avoid committing such an infringement.
(2)An operating air carrier shall not be entitled to rely on the defence provided by sub-regulation
(1)by reason of its reliance on information supplied by another operating air carrier, unless it shows that it was reasonable in all the circumstances for it to have relied on the information, having regard in particular: (
- a)to the steps which it took, and those that might reasonably have been taken, for the purpose of verifying the information; and (
- b)that it had no reason to disbelieve the information. Right to appeal. Substituted by: XVI.2019.72. 7. Any person who feels aggrieved by a judgement, order, penalty or measure issued by the Civil Court, may appeal before the Court of Appeal, on any point of law and, or of fact, by means of an application filed in the registry of the Court of Appeal within twenty days from the date of the judgment of the Civil Court: Provided that the Court of Appeal shall appoint the case for hearing by not later than six months from the judgement of the Civil Court.