Is the Court of Justice of the EU Rewriting the Montreal Convention?
The Court of Justice of the EU is competent for the interpretation of EU law and its interpretations have a binding effect on Member States’ national courts and enforcement bodies. Accordingly, the Court has the power to amend existing regulations in certain ways. In regard to airline passenger rights, the Court has developed a comprehensive case law, making extensive interpretations of several important provisions of Regulations 261/2004. However, new issues have started appearing before the Court recently, this time concerning the Montreal Convention and the issue of what constitutes an “accident” under Article 17. Since the Convention does not define the term “accident” the only way to give this concept a meaning is through case law. Although such case law is abundant, the question of whether there was an accident in a specific case must be determined by taking all circumstances into account, and by so doing, courts can, and do, draw different conclusions. This paper explores how the CJEU views this issue. This is especially important because the Montreal Convention is a globally accepted instrument of international law and the CJEU has been showing us how far its independent thinking and interpretation can go. This is also important because the Court’s actions harmonize the application of the Convention in all of the EU Member States. After reviewing some examples of how the CJEU is rewriting Regulation 261/2004, the paper will analyze the Court’s recent case law on the interpretation of Article 17 of the Convention, where its approach toward defining an “accident” will be analyzed and compared with the earlier established case law of other national courts, especially those in the United States.
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Availability:
- Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/19347170
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Authors:
- Savić, Iva
- Publication Date: 2021
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Print
- Features: References;
- Pagination: pp 17-34
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Serial:
- Issues in Aviation Law and Policy
- Volume: 21
- Issue Number: 1
- Publisher: International Aviation Law Institute
- ISSN: 1934-7170
- Serial URL: https://las.depaul.edu/centers-and-institutes/chaddick-institute-for-metropolitan-development/research-and-publications/Pages/issues-aviation-law-policy.aspx
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Air travel; Civil rights; Passengers; Regulations
- Geographic Terms: European Union
- Subject Areas: Aviation; Law; Passenger Transportation;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01831727
- Record Type: Publication
- Files: TRIS
- Created Date: Dec 28 2021 9:33AM