The Effect of the European Passenger Transport Scheme on the National Legal Order: A Focus on Air Transport

Abstract

The European transport sector is a heavily regulated sector. Initially, European transport policy was focused on opening up the internal market, on regulating safety standards and licensing. But after the adoption of consumer protection as a specific competence in the Maastricht Treaty 1992, the regulatory body ventured into other legal areas that were, up to then, not seen as typically the domain of European regulations: the private law relationship between the parties connected to the contract of carriage. Although this process started in the field of air transport, it soon expanded into rail, sea and road transport. It resulted in a total of eight regulations covering all types of transportation that aimed to protect the rights of passengers, irrespective of the mode of transport they used.Transportation law, however, is not restricted to a European dimension only. Traditionally this legal area has been, and still is, largely governed by international conventions. Very often the private law relationship between the participants in the international contract of carriage is thus also subject to treaty law as well. This article explores the relationship, boundaries and conflicts between international, European and national law concerning passenger rights regulations, with a focus on the air passenger regulations.