Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2009:400
Date: 2009-06-25
Language of the case: French
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Provisions governing the Institutions;Transport
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Luxembourg

Summary of the Judgment 1. Preliminary rulings – Jurisdiction of the Court – Limits – International convention not binding on the Community – Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to International Carriage by Air (Warsaw Convention) (Art. 234 EC) 2. Transport – Air transport – Regulation No 2027/97 – Air carrier liability in the event of accidents – Implementing procedures (Council Regulation No 2027/97) 1. The Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to International Carriage by Air, signed at Warsaw on 12 October 1929, does not form part of the rules of the Community legal order which the Court of Justice has jurisdiction to interpret under Article 234 EC. The Community has not assumed all the powers previously exercised by the Member States in the field to which the Warsaw Convention applies. In the absence of a full transfer of the powers previously exercised by the Member States to the Community, the latter cannot, simply because at the material time all those States were parties to the Warsaw Convention, be bound by the rules set out therein, which it has not itself approved. (see paras 32-34, operative part 1) 2. Regulation No 2027/97 on air carrier liability in the event of accidents must be interpreted as not precluding the application of Article 29 of the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to International Carriage by Air, signed at Warsaw on 12 October 1929, to a situation in which a passenger seeks to establish the liability of the air carrier on account of harm suffered by him when flying between Member States of the European Community. On the other hand, it is clear from recitals 2 and 4 in the preamble to Regulation No 2027/97 and Article 2(2) thereof, that where the regulation does not preclude the application of the Warsaw Convention in order to raise the level of protection of passengers, that protection involves the regulation and the system established by the convention being complementary and equivalent to one another. Since Article 29 of the Warsaw Convention simply governs a procedural rule for bringing an action for damages against an air carrier in the event of an accident, it is not in the category of provisions whose application the Community legislature has sought to preclude. (see paras 43-45, operative part 2)