What changed between the draft committee report and the plenary report

Added:Article 16 – paragraph 1 – introductory part: 1. Where terminal managers or carriers assisting persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility from one transport service to a connecting transport service, either in the context of a single multimodal contract or at a multimodal passenger hub, cause the loss of, or damage to, mobility equipment, including wheelchairs, and assistive devices, or the loss of, or injury to, assistance dogs used by persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility, they shall be liable for that loss, damage or injury, and provide compensation without undue delay. That compensation shall comprise:

Added:Article 17 – paragraph 1: 1. Carriers offering single multimodal contracts shall establish service quality standards and implement a quality management system to maintain and improve service quality. The service quality standards shall at least cover the items listed in Annex II.

Added:Article 17 – paragraph 2: 2. Carriers which are not SMEs offering single multimodal contracts shall monitor their performance as reflected in the service quality standards. They shall publish a report on their service quality performance on their website by [2 years after the day of application of this Regulation], and every two years thereafter. That report shall not contain personal data.

Added:Article 18 – paragraph 1: 1. Each carrier and intermediary offering single multimodal contracts or combined multimodal tickets and each multimodal hub manager shall set up a complaint-handling mechanism for the rights and obligations covered by this Regulation in their respective fields of responsibility. They shall make their contact details and working language, or languages, widely known to passengers.

Added:Article 18 – paragraph 2: 2. Details of the complaint-handling procedure shall be accessible to the public, including to persons with disabilities and to persons with reduced mobility. That information shall be made available to passengers in the event of travel disruptions at least in the language of the booking or in the official language or languages of the Member State in which the carrier, intermediary or multimodal hub manager is operating.

Added:Article 18 – paragraph 2 a (new): 2 a. Passengers may submit a complaint to carriers or intermediaries regarding their respective fields of responsibility through the mechanisms referred to in paragraph 1. Such a complaint shall be submitted within one year of the date on which the journey was performed or was scheduled to be performed.

Added:Article 18 – paragraph 2 b (new): 2 b. Within seven working days of receiving the complaint, the addressee shall confirm to the passenger that it has received the complaint. Within two months of receiving the complaint, the addressee shall provide a reasoned answer to the passenger. Where the addressee does not provide that full answer within that two-month period, it shall be deemed to have accepted the passenger’s claims.

Added:Article 18 – paragraph 2 c (new): 2 c. With the reasoned answer, the addressee shall also communicate to the passenger concerned the relevant contact details of the national enforcement body or any other body within the meaning of Article 21, including its postal address, phone number, email address and website address.

Added:Article 18 – paragraph 2 d (new): 2 d. Upon receipt of the reasoned reply from the air carrier or the intermediary, the passenger concerned may submit a complaint to the national enforcement body and/or to any the national out-of-court dispute resolution body designated under Article 21, within a time limit set in advance, which shall be no less than one year from the date on which the passenger submitted the complaint to the air carrier or the intermediary concerned.

Added:Article 18 – paragraph 2 e (new): 2 e. Where the carrier invokes extraordinary circumstances, it shall inform the passenger in its answer of the specific circumstances responsible for the cancellation or delay. The air carrier shall also demonstrate that it took all reasonable measures to avoid the cancellation or delay.

Added:Article 18 – paragraph 2 f (new): 2 f. The burden of proof regarding the provision of the requisite information to passengers shall lie on the air carrier and the intermediary.

Added:Article 18 – paragraph 2 g (new): 2 g. Details of the complaint-handling procedure shall be accessible to the public, including to persons with disabilities and to persons with reduced mobility. This information shall be available upon request at least in the official language or languages of the booking reservation.

Added:Article 19 – paragraph 3: 3. Carriers and intermediaries shall provide the information under this Article, in either paper or electronic format, or by any other means, including in accessible formats. In the event of cancellation, missed connection or long delay, they shall again, on their own initiative, provide the information under this Article.

Added:Article 20 – title: Designation of national enforcement bodies

Added:Article 20 – paragraph 1: 1. Each Member State shall designate a body or bodies responsible for the enforcement of this Regulation. To this effect, Member States may designate a body which is already responsible for the enforcement of the Union law on passenger rights. Each body shall take the measures necessary to ensure that the rights of passengers are respected. Each body shall be independent in its organisation, funding decisions, legal structure and decision-making from any carrier, managing body and intermediary.

Added:Article 21 – paragraph 1: 1. Member States shall designate the national enforcement body or any other body as the entity responsible for the handling of complaints under paragraph 2 of this Article. The complaint-handling procedure shall be made accessible to persons with disabilities and to persons with reduced mobility.

Added:Article 21 – paragraph 3: 3. Without prejudice to the possibility for consumers to seek alternative redress pursuant to Directive 2013/11/EU, after having complained unsuccessfully to the carrier, intermediary or multimodal hub manager pursuant to Article 18, passengers may complain about an alleged infringement of this Regulation to any body designated under paragraph 1.

Added:Article 22 – paragraph 4: 4. Compliance monitoring activities shall be based on the assessment of risks and carried out by means of audits, inspections, interviews, verifications, website and mobile application reviews and examination of documents as appropriate. They shall include both announced and unannounced activities. The monitoring activities shall be proportionate to the risks identified.

Added:Article 22 – paragraph 5: 5. National enforcement bodies shall ensure the swift rectification of non-compliance by carriers, intermediaries and terminal managers as identified during their monitoring activities. They shall require carriers and intermediaries to submit an action plan to remedy non-compliance, as appropriate.

Added:Article 24 – paragraph 2 a (new): 2 a. The Commission shall, at the request of a Member State or of a national enforcement body, or on its own initiative, examine cases where differences in the application and enforcement of any provisions of this Regulation arise between Member States. The Commission may, where appropriate, adopt guidelines with a view to promoting uniform application and, where necessary, propose amendments to this Regulation to the European Parliament and Council pursuant to Article 27.

Added:Article 27 – paragraph 1: By ... [five years after the date of application pursuant to Art. 28], the Commission shall submit a report on the implementation of this Regulation to the European Parliament and the Council. The report shall be based on information to be provided pursuant to this Regulation, in particular the reports from the national enforcement bodies. The report shall, where appropriate, be accompanied by a legislative proposal. In any case, regardless of the above mentioned deadlines, the Commission shall reassess the scope of combined tickets under this Regulation within one year of the publication of any future ticketing proposal of relevance for this Regulation.

Annex II – paragraph 5: deleted

Change 11

Removed:The requirements in this Annex should be limited to the ones absolutely necessary to monitor the application of this Regulation. Non-essential and burdensome requirements should be removed.

Added:Annex II – paragraph 7 – point iii: iii. the outcome of complaints, including the number of cases where the assistance was not provided or was provided with delay,