The European Commission presented a legislative package to strengthen the rights of passengers in the EU at the end of 2023. The package, which will still have to be discussed by the Parliament and the Council, consists of four legislative proposals. Two of them are especially relevant for persons with disabilities:
- A new proposal (Proposal for a Regulation amending Regulations (EC) No 261/2004, (EC) No 1107/2006, (EU) No 1177/2010, (EU) No 181/2011 and (EU) 2021/782 as regards enforcement of passenger rights in the Union 2023/0437(COD)
- A new proposal for a Regulation to protect passengers in multimodal journeys. Proposal for a Regulation on passenger rights in the context of multimodal journeys – 2023/0436(COD)
The presentation of the proposals is the first step in the legislative process, so the new regulations will probably only be agreed on in a few years.
In this article, we will briefly explain their content, paying special attention to the main improvements and shortcomings for the rights of passengers with disabilities.
Regulation to improve enforcement of passenger rights regulations
The aim of this regulation is to improve the enforcement of passenger rights in all transport modes – air travel, train travel, bus and coaches and transport used to travel by water (such as ferries). It aims to provide more tools to appropriate bodies to ensure that carriers, infrastructure managers and other actors do what is required by EU law.
New Obligations
The package includes new obligations for transport services, especially carriers and National Enforcement Bodies:
- A new obligation for carriers and infrastructure managers to adopt Service Quality Standards and report on disability-related complaints.
- New obligations for National Enforcement Bodies to carry out a risk assessment on carriers, infrastructure managers, ticket vendors and tour operators’ compliance with passenger rights rules and develop a compliance monitoring programme. This programme will have to include specific activities such audits, inspections, interviews and examinations of documents.
Shortcomings
While we note this improvement regarding new obligations, there are some shortcomings that will limit the impact of the measures and provide an incomplete picture of complaints related to disability rights:
- Different rules and obligations for carriers and infrastructure managers – which will risk providing the incomplete and biased picture. In its current form, infrastructure managers will not have to publicly report on the number and nature of disability-related complaints.
- they do not seem to address the main shortcoming in the enforcement work of National Enforcement Bodies: the divergent and often limited level resources, powers, penalties and procedures available to them. For example, even if National Enforcement Bodies find a breach in the application of passenger rights, few of them will be able to take binding decisions towards the carrier and will leave the passenger with the costly and time-consuming process of seeking redress through courts.
We welcome that the Commission has taken advantage of the proposal to amend specific provisions related to the rights of persons with disabilities and reduced mobility when travelling by air to oblige airlines to provide an extra ticket free of charge whenever they oblige a person with disabilities to travel accompanied. However, we believe it should be extended to all persons with disabilities needing an accompanying person. Furthermore, it falls very short of the in-depth revision we demanded: denied boarding and limited liability for broken or damaged mobility equipment were not addressed.
Multimodal Regulation
Content of the proposal
The second regulation presented is proposal on passenger rights in the context of multimodal journeys which aims at establishing a set of passenger rights for multimodal journeys. Multimodal journeys occur when passengers combine at least two collective transport modes to reach a certain destination. For example, a single ticket that includes a train from Brussels to Paris Airport and, from there, a flight to a country outside of the EU.
When disruptions, like delays or cancellations, occur passenger rights are not yet guaranteed. This proposal will improve the situation. In that sense, we welcome this initiative. It is positive that the provisions that already exist in passenger rights regulations for specific transport modes are replicated in the multimodal context, notably:
- right to transport;
- provision of assistance free of charge;
- establishment of a single point of contact to request assistance:
- accessibility of information, liability for broken or damaged mobility equipment
- right to care in the event of delay and cancellation that takes into consideration the specific needs of persons with disabilities and reduced mobility and establishment of service quality standards.
Shortcomings
An important shortcoming of the proposed regulation is its limited scope, as it will only affect 0.7% of the number of passengers covered by existing passenger rights regulations. Besides, the highest level of protection will only apply for a specific type of ticket: single multimodal contract – when someone buys a single ticket that contains mutlitple journeys in different transport modes. Currently, this type of contract is still rare and only represents 5% of the multimodal market. This regulation does not apply to multimodal trips if, for example, you buy a train ticket from Brussels to an airport in Paris through the train company and then a flight to Croatia through the airline. As a result, the application of passengers with disabilities rights in multimodal journeys will be limited.
This does not mean that the proposal itself is irrelevant. The multimodal market is expected to grow in the coming years and we agree with the need to have a robust legal framework in place, but a framework that also covers other types of contracts.
Conclusion
As we have described in the article, the new package on passenger rights includes some promises but falls short of addressing our main concern. We renew our call to the European Union to carry out a much-needed actions to ensure the rights of passenger with disabilities during air travel, which includes addressing the issue of cases of unjustified denied boarding of persons with disabilities. We also call on the EU to take into account the problems of damaged, destroyed, or lost mobility equipment and assistive devices when revising Regulation 261/2004 on Air Passengers’ Rights.