Citation and commencement

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Air Carrier Liability Regulations 2004 and shall come into force on 28th June 2004.

Interpretation

2. In these Regulations—

“ the Council Regulation ” means Council Regulation (EC) No 2027/97 as amended by Regulation (EC) No 889/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council;

“ UK air carrier ” has the meaning given by Article 2 of the Council Regulation.

Enforcement of Articles 3a and 6 of the Council Regulation

3. —(1) A UK air carrier that fails to make available the tariff required by Article 3a of the Council Regulation shall be guilty of an offence unless it proves that the failure to do so occurred without its consent or connivance and that it exercised all due diligence to prevent the failure.

(2) An air carrier that fails to comply with the requirements imposed on it by paragraphs 1 or 2 of Article 6 of the Council Regulation shall be guilty of an offence unless it proves that the failure to do so occurred without its consent or connivance and that it exercised all due diligence to prevent the failure.

Penalties

4. —(1) A person guilty of an offence under these Regulations shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum , and

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine.

(2) Where an offence under these Regulations has been committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or any such person who was purporting to act in such capacity, he, as well as the body corporate, shall be guilty of an offence and be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

(3) Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, paragraph (2) shall apply in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with his functions of management as if he were a director of the body corporate.

(4) Where a Scottish partnership is guilty of an offence under these Regulations in Scotland and that offence is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of a partner, he, as well as the partnership, shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

Amendment of the Carriage by Air Act 1961

5. In section 14 of the Carriage by Air Act 1961 for the definition of “the Council Regulation” there shall be substituted the following definition—

“ “ the Council Regulation ” means Council Regulation (EC) No. 2027/97 as amended by Regulation (EC) No. 889/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council as it has effect in accordance with the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2nd May 1992 as adjusted by the Protocol signed at Brussels on 17th March 1993 as amended by the Decisions of the EEA Joint Committee No. 34/98 of 30th April 1998 and No. 142/2002 of 8th November 2002. ” .

Revocation

6.The Air Carrier Liability Order 1998 is hereby revoked.