On April 1, 2019 an Act of December 14, 2018 on the amendment of the Aviation Law Act and some other Acts entered into force. In comparison to the previous complaints consideration procedure in the course of administrative procedure carried out on the basis of the rules of administrative proceedings, this Act introduces a possibility to solve amicably disputes with passengers arising from the following two Regulations: Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 and Regulation (EC) No 2111/2005.
The previous procedure of complaints consideration in the course of administrative proceedings carried out by the Commission on Passengers Rights, is applied to all complaints submitted to the Civil Aviation Authority by the end of March 2019.
According to Art. 14 of the above-mentioned Act of December 14, 2018, for cases initiated and not resolved before the day on which this Act enters into force the previous rules are applicable. The date of initiation arises from Art. 61 § 3 of the Code of Administrative Proceedings according to which the proceedings initiation date is a date of submission of a claim to an organ of public administration. Applications submitted according to the old procedure after that date shall be rejected as the Authority has no legal basis to consider them.
Simultaneously, we inform that on April 1, 2019 the President of the Civil Aviation Authority appointed a Passengers’ Rights Ombudsman who solves passenger disputes according to the Act of September 23, 2016 on out-of-court consumer disputes resolution. Detailed information is available on the Ombudsman’s website: http://pasazerlotniczy.ulc.gov.pl/