24. In the light of those factors, there is therefore no need to take account of the provisions laid down by that regulation for the purposes of the interpretation sought by the referring court.
25. However, in my analysis, I shall refer to the provisions laid down by the regulations in force on the protection of the rights of disabled air passengers and passengers travelling by rail, by sea or by bus and coach. (15) It is true that the different modes of transport concerned are not comparable and, as the
Court pointed out in its judgment of 2 September 2021, Irish Ferries, (1 6)
the EU legislature did not
intend to ensure an identical level of protection for each of those modes of transport. (17) However, like Regulation No 261/2004, all of those instruments provide for the designation of a national body responsible for enforcing the regulation concerned. In Irish Ferries, the Court did not neglect to note the intention of the EU legislature to adopt ‘a uniform approach’ to the interpretation of the concepts used in each of those regulations. (18) That is true, for example, of the concept of ‘extraordinary circumstances’, used in relation to the rights of both air and sea passengers. (19) I therefore consider it useful to have regard to the provisions which the EU legislature laid down in those regulations concerning the powers of the national body responsible for ensuring that the rights of passengers are respected.
B. Consideration of the question referred
26. By its single question, the referring court asks the Court, in essence, whether Article 16(1) and
(2) of Regulation No 261/2004 must be interpreted as precluding national legislation under which the national body responsible for enforcing that regulation has the power to order air carriers to pay the compensation provided for in Article 7 of the regulation on account of the cancellation of a flight. (20)
27. As I have stated, the answer to that question must enable the scope of the powers conferred on that national body to be clarified in line with the principles previously identified by the Court in Ruijssenaars and Others.