31. That paragraph must be understood as reflecting the Court’s finding that Member States may allocate to their national bodies responsible for enforcing Regulation No 261/2004 a power to impose orders in the context of the task conferred on them by Article 16 thereof.
32. In the present dispute, while LOT relies on the first step of the Court’s reasoning in Ruijssenaars and Others in order to challenge the allocation of such a power to the Consumer Protection Inspectorate, the latter relies on the second step of that reasoning to assert the power thus conferred on it by national legislation. The Court is therefore asked to clarify the scope of that obiter dictum. For the purposes of that clarification, I propose that the Court take into account, in accordance with its settled case-law, not only the wording of Article 16 of Regulation No 261/2004, but also the scheme and objectives of that regulation, whilst having regard to the principles previously identified by the Court in its case-law.
33. That clarification is essential as the practical consequences flowing from the powers enjoyed by national bodies are far reaching, particularly for the thousands of passengers affected each year by the cancellation or long delay of their flights. Such clarification will also make it possible to respond to the demands from the Commission, which has repeatedly highlighted the difficulties in enforcing Regulation No 261/2004 because of the absence of a uniform interpretation and of consistent, detailed rules for the application of that regulation at national level, and has stated that the regulation should be improved to ensure that there are clear and accessible mechanisms for handling complaints. (24)
1. The wording of Article 16 of Regulation No 261/2004
34. In Article 16 of Regulation No 261/2004, the EU legislature lays down the rules applying in the event of ‘infringements’ of the provisions of that regulation.
35. In the first place, Article 16(1) of the regulation requires Member States to designate ‘a body responsible for the enforcement of this Regulation’ as regards flights from airports situated on its territory and flights from a third country to such airports, which is to be responsible, where appropriate, for taking the measures necessary to ensure that the rights of passengers are respected. Although the legislature clearly defines the extent of the territorial jurisdiction of that body, I note that it does not specify either the conditions or the manner in which the latter is to perform its tasks and ‘ensure that the rights of passengers are respected’. (25) Furthermore, I observe that the expression ‘ensure that the rights of passengers are respected’ is clearly broad in scope. It covers the protection of both the collective and individual interests of air passengers. Recital 22 of Regulation No 261/2004, which sets out the considerations on which the EU legislature relied in adopting Article 16(1) of that regulation, does not provide any further clarification in that regard.