2. Without prejudice to Article 12, each passenger may complain to any body designated under paragraph 1, or to any other competent body designated by a Member State, about an alleged infringement of this Regulation at any airport situated on the territory of a Member State or concerning any flight from a third country to an airport situated on that territory.
3. The sanctions laid down by Member States for infringements of this Regulation shall be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.’
B. Hungarian law
8. Article 43/A(2) of the fogyasztóvédelemről szóló 1997. évi CLV. törvény (Law No CLV of 1997 on consumer protection) (4) of 15 December 1997 provides:
‘The consumer protection authority – following consultation, where necessary, with the civil aviation authority – shall be responsible for enforcing Regulation (EU) 2017/2394 [(5 ) ] in the event of infringements of Regulation No 261/2004 within the [European Union].’
9. Under Article 47(1)(c) and (i) of the Law on Consumer Protection, that authority has the power to compel the undertaking concerned to bring an end to any identified irregularities or shortcomings within a specified period and to impose a ‘consumer protection’ fine.
III. The dispute in the main proceedings and the question referred for a preliminary ruling
10. Following a delay of more than three hours of a flight from New York (United States) to Budapest (Hungary) operated by the company Polskie Linie Lotnicze ‘LOT’ S.A., (6) a number of passengers brought the matter before the Budapest Főváros Kormányhivatala (Consumer Protection Inspectorate of the Budapest Metropolitan Government Office, Hungary), (7 ) asking it to order that air carrier to pay them, by way of redress for having infringed Article 5(1)(c) of Regulation No 261/2004, the compensation provided for in Article 7 thereof.
11. By decision of 20 April 2020, the Consumer Protection Inspectorate found that LOT had infringed its obligations under Article 6(1)(c) and Article 7(1)(c) of Regulation No 261/2004 and ordered it to pay the passengers concerned compensation of EUR 600 per person and to pay the same compensation in the future to any passenger who makes a similar complaint. The Consumer Protection Inspectorate states that, under Article 43/A(2) of the Law on Consumer Protection, which transposes the requirements of Article 16(1) and (2) of that regulation, it is empowered to compel air carriers to bring an end to infringements of the regulation within a specified period.