Regulation (EC) No 1107/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of  5 July 2006  concerning the rights of disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility when travelling by air   (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2006-07-05
Institutions: Council of the European Union, European Parliament
Subjects: air transport, anti-discriminatory measure, carriage of passengers, disabled person

26.7.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 204/1

I

(Acts whose publication is obligatory)

REGULATION (EC) No 1107/2006 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 5 July 2006

concerning the rights of disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility when travelling by air

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION,

(3)

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Commu-
nity, and in particular Article 80(2) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and
Social Committee (1),

Having consulted of the Committee of the Regions,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251
of the Treaty (2),

Whereas:

(1)

The single market for air services should benefit citizens in
general. Consequently, disabled persons and persons with
reduced mobility, whether caused by disability, age or any
other
travel
factor, should have opportunities for air
comparable to those of other citizens. Disabled persons
and persons with reduced mobility have the same right as
all other citizens to free movement, freedom of choice and
non-discrimination. This applies to air travel as to other
areas of life.

(2) Disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility should
therefore be accepted for carriage and not refused transport
on the grounds of their disability or lack of mobility, except
for reasons which are justified on the grounds of safety and
prescribed by law. Before accepting reservations from
disabled persons or persons with reduced mobility, air
carriers, their agents and tour operators should make all
reasonable efforts to verify whether there is a reason which
is justified on the grounds of safety and which would
prevent such persons being accommodated on the flights
concerned.

(1) OJ C 24, 31.1.2006, p. 12.
(2) Opinion of the European Parliament of 15 December 2005 (not yet
published in the Official Journal), and Council Decision of 9 June
2006.

the European Parliament and of

This Regulation should not affect other rights of passengers
established by Community legislation and notably Council
Directive 90/314/EEC of 13 June 1990 on package travel,
package holidays and package tours (3) and Regulation (EC)
No 261/2004 of
the
Council of 11 February 2004 establishing common rules
on compensation and assistance to air passengers in the
event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay
of flights (4) . Where the same event would give rise to the
same right of reimbursement or rebooking under either of
those legislative acts as well as under this Regulation, the
person so entitled should be allowed to exercise that right
once only, at his or her discretion.

(4)

In order to give disabled persons and persons with reduced
mobility opportunities for air travel comparable to those of
other citizens, assistance to meet their particular needs
should be provided at the airport as well as on board
aircraft, by employing the necessary staff and equipment. In
the interests of social
inclusion, the persons concerned
should receive this assistance without additional charge.

(5) Assistance given at airports situated in the territory of a
Member State to which the Treaty applies should, among
other things, enable disabled persons and persons with
reduced mobility to proceed from a designated point of
arrival at an airport to an aircraft and from the aircraft to a
designated point of departure from the airport, including
embarking and disembarking. These points should be
the main entrances to terminal
designated at
buildings, in areas with check-in counters, in train, light rail,
metro and bus stations, at taxi ranks and other drop-off
points, and in airport car parks. The assistance should be
organised so as to avoid interruption and delay, while
ensuring high and equivalent standards throughout the
Community and making best use of resources, whatever
airport or air carrier is involved.

least at

(3) OJ L 158, 23.6.1990, p. 59.
(4) OJ L 46, 17.2.2004, p. 1.

L 204/2

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

26.7.2006

(6)

To achieve these aims, ensuring high quality assistance at
airports should be the responsibility of a central body. As
managing bodies of airports play a central role in providing
services throughout their airports, they should be given this
overall responsibility.

(7) Managing bodies of airports may provide the assistance to
disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility
themselves. Alternatively,
the positive role
played in the past by certain operators and air carriers,
managing bodies may contract with third parties for the
supply of
to the
application of relevant rules of Community law, including
those on public procurement.

this assistance, without prejudice

in view of

(8) Assistance should be financed in such a way as to spread
the burden equitably among all passengers using an airport
and to avoid disincentives to the carriage of disabled
persons and persons with reduced mobility. A charge levied
on each air carrier using an airport, proportionate to the
number of passengers it carries to or from the airport,
appears to be the most effective way of funding.

(9) With a view to ensuring,

in particular, that the charges
levied on an air carrier are commensurate with the
assistance provided to disabled persons and persons with
reduced mobility, and that these charges do not serve to
finance activities of the managing body other than those
relating to the provision of such assistance, the charges
should be adopted and applied in full transparency. Council
Directive 96/67/EC of 15 October 1996 on access to the
groundhandling market at Community airports (1) and in
particular the provisions on separation of accounts, should
therefore apply where this does not conflict with this
Regulation.

(10)

In organising the provision of assistance to disabled persons
and persons with reduced mobility, and the training of their
personnel, airports and air carriers should have regard to
document 30 of the European Civil Aviation Conference
(ECAC), Part I, Section 5 and its associated annexes,
in
particular the Code of Good Conduct in Ground Handling
for Persons with Reduced Mobility as set out in Annex J
thereto at the time of adoption of this Regulation.

(12) Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of
individuals with regard to the processing of personal data
and on the free movement of such data (2) should be strictly
enforced in order to guarantee respect for the privacy of
disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility, and
ensure that the information requested serves merely to fulfil
the assistance obligations laid down in this Regulation and
is not used against passengers seeking the service in
question.

(13) All essential information provided to air passengers should
be provided in alternative formats accessible to disabled
persons and persons with reduced mobility, and should be
in at least the same languages as the information made
available to other passengers.

(14) Where wheelchairs or other mobility equipment or assistive
devices are lost or damaged during handling at the airport
or during transport on board aircraft, the passenger to
whom the equipment belongs should be compensated, in
accordance with rules of international, Community and
national law.

(15) Member States should supervise and ensure compliance
with this Regulation and designate an appropriate body to
carry out enforcement tasks. This supervision does not
affect the rights of disabled persons and persons with
reduced mobility to seek legal redress from courts under
national law.

(16)

It is important that a disabled person or person with
reduced mobility who considers that this Regulation has
been infringed be able to bring the matter to the attention
of the managing body of the airport or to the attention of
the air carrier concerned, as the case may be. If the disabled
person or person with reduced mobility cannot obtain
satisfaction in such way, he or she should be free to make a
complaint to the body or bodies designated to that end by
the relevant Member State.

(11)

In deciding on the design of new airports and terminals,
and as part of major refurbishments, managing bodies of
airports should, where possible, take into account the needs
of disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility.
Similarly, air carriers should, where possible, take such
needs into account when deciding on the design of new and
newly refurbished aircraft.

(17) Complaints concerning assistance given at an airport
should be addressed to the body or bodies designated for
the enforcement of this Regulation by the Member State
where the airport
is situated. Complaints concerning
assistance given by an air carrier should be addressed to
the body or bodies designated for the enforcement of this
Regulation by the Member State which has issued the
operating licence to the air carrier.

(1) OJ L 272, 25.10.1996, p. 36. Directive as amended by Regulation
(EC) No 1882/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council
(OJ L 284, 31.10.2003, p. 1).

(2) OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, p. 31. Directive as amended by Regulation

(EC) No 1882/2003.

26.7.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 204/3

(18) Member States should lay down penalties applicable to
infringements of this Regulation and ensure that those
penalties are applied. The penalties, which could include
ordering the payment of compensation to the person
concerned, should be effective, proportionate and dissua-
sive.

(19) Since the objectives of this Regulation, namely to ensure
high and equivalent levels of protection and assistance
throughout the Member States and to ensure that economic
agents operate under harmonised conditions in a single
market, cannot sufficiently be achieved by the Member
States and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of
the action, be better achieved at Community level, the
Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the
principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty.
In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set
out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond
what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives.

(20) This Regulation respects

rights and
observes the principles recognised in particular by the
Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

the fundamental

(21) Arrangements for greater cooperation over the use of
Gibraltar airport were agreed in London on 2 December
1987 by the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland in a joint declaration by
the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the two countries. Such
arrangements have yet to enter into operation,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Purpose and scope

1. This Regulation establishes rules for the protection of and
provision of assistance to disabled persons and persons with
reduced mobility travelling by air, both to protect them against
discrimination and to ensure that they receive assistance.

2. The provisions of this Regulation shall apply to disabled
persons and persons with reduced mobility, using or intending to
use commercial passenger air services on departure from, on
transit through, or on arrival at an airport, when the airport is
situated in the territory of a Member State to which the Treaty
applies.

3. Articles 3, 4 and 10 shall also apply to passengers departing
from an airport situated in a third country to an airport situated
in the territory of a Member State to which the Treaty applies, if
the operating carrier is a Community air carrier.

4. This Regulation shall not affect the rights of passengers
established by Directive 90/314/EEC and under Regulation (EC)
No 261/2004.

In so far as the provisions of this Regulation conflict with

5.
those of Directive 96/67/EC, this Regulation shall prevail.

this Regulation to Gibraltar airport

6. Application of
is
understood to be without prejudice to the respective legal
positions of the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland with regard to the dispute
over sovereignty over the territory in which the airport
is
situated.

the arrangements

7. Application of this Regulation to Gibraltar airport shall be
suspended until
Joint
Declaration made by the Foreign Ministers of the Kingdom of
Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland on 2 December 1987 enter
into operation. The
Governments of Spain and of the United Kingdom shall inform
the Council of the date of entry into operation.

included in the

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation the following definitions
shall apply:

(a)

‘disabled person’ or ‘person with reduced mobility’ means
any person whose mobility when using transport is reduced
due to any physical disability (sensory or locomotor,
permanent or temporary), intellectual disability or impair-
ment, or any other cause of disability, or age, and whose
situation needs appropriate attention and the adaptation to
his or her particular needs of the service made available to
all passengers;

(b)

‘air carrier’ means an air transport undertaking with a valid
operating licence;

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

‘operating air carrier’ means an air carrier that performs or
intends to perform a flight under a contract with a
passenger or on behalf of another person, legal or natural,
having a contract with that passenger;

‘Community air carrier’ means an air carrier with a valid
operating licence granted by a Member State in accordance
with Council Regulation (EEC) No 2407/92 of 23 July 1992
on licensing of air carriers (1);

‘tour operator’ means, with the exception of an air carrier,
an organiser or retailer within the meaning of Article 2(2)
and (3) of Directive 90/314/EEC;

‘managing body of the airport’ or ‘managing body’ means a
body which notably has as its objective under national
legislation the administration and management of airport
infrastructures, and the coordination and control of the
activities of the various operators present in an airport or
airport system;

(1) OJ L 240, 24.8.1992, p. 1.

L 204/4

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

26.7.2006

‘airport user’ means any natural or legal person responsible
for the carriage of passengers by air from or to the airport
in question;

(b)

if the size of the aircraft or its doors makes the embarkation
or carriage of that disabled person or person with reduced
mobility physically impossible.

(g)

(h)

(i)

(j)

(k)

(l)

‘Airport Users Committee’ means a committee of repre-
sentatives of airport users or organisations representing
them;

‘reservation’ means the fact that the passenger has a ticket,
or other proof, which indicates that the reservation has
been accepted and registered by the air carrier or tour
operator;

‘airport’ means any area of land specially adapted for the
landing, taking-off and manoeuvres of aircraft, including
ancillary installations which these operations may involve
for
traffic and services
including installations needed to assist commercial air
services;

the requirements of aircraft

‘airport car park’ means a car park, within the airport
boundaries or under the direct control of the managing
body of an airport, which directly serves the passengers
using that airport;

‘commercial passenger air service’ means a passenger air
transport service operated by an air carrier through a
scheduled or non‑scheduled flight offered to the general
public for valuable consideration, whether on its own or as
part of a package.

Article 3

Prevention of refusal of carriage

An air carrier or its agent or a tour operator shall not refuse, on
the grounds of disability or of reduced mobility:

(a)

(b)

to accept a reservation for a flight departing from or
arriving at an airport to which this Regulation applies;

to embark a disabled person or a person with reduced
mobility at such an airport, provided that
the person
concerned has a valid ticket and reservation.

Article 4

Derogations, special conditions and information

1. Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 3, an air carrier or
its agent or a tour operator may refuse, on the grounds of
disability or of reduced mobility, to accept a reservation from or
to embark a disabled person or a person with reduced mobility:

(a)

in order to meet applicable safety requirements established
by international, Community or national law or in order to
meet safety requirements established by the authority that
issued the air operator's certificate to the air carrier
concerned;

In the event of refusal to accept a reservation on the grounds
referred to under points (a) or (b) of the first subparagraph, the
air carrier, its agent or the tour operator shall make reasonable
efforts to propose an acceptable alternative to the person in
question.

A disabled person or a person with reduced mobility who has
been denied embarkation on the grounds of his or her disability
or reduced mobility and any person accompanying this person
pursuant to paragraph 2 of this Article shall be offered the right
to reimbursement or re-routing as provided for in Article 8 of
Regulation (EC) No 261/2004. The right to the option of a return
safety
flight or
requirements being met.

re-routing shall be conditional upon all

2. Under the same conditions referred to in paragraph 1, first
subparagraph, point (a), an air carrier or its agent or a tour
operator may require that a disabled person or person with
reduced mobility be accompanied by another person who is
capable of providing the assistance required by that person.

3. An air carrier or its agent shall make publicly available, in
accessible formats and in at least the same languages as the
information made available to other passengers, the safety rules
that it applies to the carriage of disabled persons and persons
with reduced mobility, as well as any restrictions on their
carriage or on that of mobility equipment due to the size of
aircraft. A tour operator shall make such safety rules and
restrictions available for flights included in package travel,
package holidays and package tours which it organises, sells or
offers for sale.

4. When an air carrier or its agent or a tour operator exercises a
derogation under paragraphs 1 or 2, it shall immediately inform
the disabled person or person with reduced mobility of the
reasons therefor. On request, an air carrier, its agent or a tour
operator shall communicate these reasons in writing to the
disabled person or person with reduced mobility, within five
working days of the request.

Article 5

Designation of points of arrival and departure

In cooperation with airport users, through the Airport Users
1.
and relevant organisations
Committee where one
exists,
representing disabled persons
and persons with reduced
mobility, the managing body of an airport shall, taking account
of local conditions, designate points of arrival and departure
within the airport boundary or at a point under the direct
control of the managing body, both inside and outside terminal

26.7.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 204/5

buildings, at which disabled persons or persons with reduced
mobility can, with ease, announce their arrival at the airport and
request assistance.

referred to in
2. The points of arrival and departure
paragraph 1, shall be clearly signed and shall offer basic
information about the airport, in accessible formats.

Article 6

Transmission of information

1. Air carriers, their agents and tour operators shall take all
measures necessary for the receipt, at all their points of sale in
the territory of the Member States to which the Treaty applies,
including sale by telephone and via the Internet, of notifications
of the need for assistance made by disabled persons or persons
with reduced mobility.

2. When an air carrier or its agent or a tour operator receives a
notification of the need for assistance at least 48 hours before the
published departure time for the flight,
it shall transmit the
information concerned at least 36 hours before the published
departure time for the flight:

(a)

to the managing bodies of the airports of departure, arrival
and transit, and

(b)

to the operating air carrier, if a reservation was not made
with that carrier, unless the identity of the operating air
carrier is not known at the time of notification, in which
case the information shall be transmitted as soon as
practicable.

In all cases other than those mentioned in paragraph 2, the
3.
air carrier or its agent or tour operator shall transmit the
information as soon as possible.

4. As soon as possible after the departure of the flight, an
operating air carrier shall
inform the managing body of the
airport of destination, if situated in the territory of a Member
State to which the Treaty applies, of the number of disabled
persons and persons with reduced mobility on that
flight
requiring assistance specified in Annex I and of the nature of that
assistance.

Article 7

Right to assistance at airports

1. When a disabled person or person with reduced mobility
arrives at an airport for travel by air, the managing body of the
airport shall be responsible for ensuring the provision of the
assistance specified in Annex I in such a way that the person is
able to take the flight for which he or she holds a reservation,
provided that the notification of the person's particular needs for

such assistance has been made to the air carrier or its agent or
the tour operator concerned at
least 48 hours before the
published time of departure of the flight. This notification shall
also cover a return flight, if the outward flight and the return
flight have been contracted with the same air carrier.

2. Where use of a recognised assistance dog is required, this
shall be accommodated provided that notification of the same is
made to the air carrier or its agent or the tour operator in
accordance with applicable national rules covering the carriage
of assistance dogs on board aircraft, where such rules exist.

If no notification is made in accordance with paragraph 1,
3.
the managing body shall make all reasonable efforts to provide
the assistance specified in Annex I in such a way that the person
concerned is able to take the flight for which he or she holds a
reservation.

4. The provisions of paragraph 1 shall apply on condition that:

(a)

the person presents himself or herself for check-in:

(i)

at
the time stipulated in advance and in writing
(including by electronic means) by the air carrier or its
agent or the tour operator, or

(ii)

if no time is stipulated, not later than one hour before
the published departure time, or

(b)

the person arrives at a point within the airport boundary
designated in accordance with Article 5:

(i)

at
the time stipulated in advance and in writing
(including by electronic means) by the air carrier or its
agent or the tour operator, or

(ii)

if no time is stipulated, not later than two hours
before the published departure time.

5. When a disabled person or person with reduced mobility
transits through an airport to which this Regulation applies, or is
transferred by an air carrier or a tour operator from the flight for
which he or she holds a reservation to another flight, the
managing body shall be responsible for ensuring the provision of
the assistance specified in Annex I in such a way that the person
is able to take the flight for which he or she holds a reservation.

6. On the arrival by air of a disabled person or person with
reduced mobility at an airport to which this Regulation applies,
the managing body of
the airport shall be responsible for
ensuring the provision of the assistance specified in Annex I in
such a way that the person is able to reach his or her point of
departure from the airport as referred to in Article 5.

far as possible, be
7. The assistance provided shall, as
appropriate to the particular needs of the individual passenger.

L 204/6

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

26.7.2006

Article 8

Responsibility for assistance at airports

1. The managing body of an airport shall be responsible for
ensuring the provision of the assistance specified in Annex I
without additional charge to disabled persons and persons with
reduced mobility.

2. The managing body may provide such assistance itself.
Alternatively,
in keeping with its responsibility, and subject
always to compliance with the quality standards referred to in
Article 9(1), the managing body may contract with one or more
other parties for the supply of the assistance. In cooperation with
airport users, through the Airport Users Committee where one
exists, the managing body may enter into such a contract or
contracts on its own initiative or on request, including from an
air carrier, and taking into account the existing services at the
airport concerned. In the event that it refuses such a request, the
managing body shall provide written justification.

3. The managing body of an airport may, on a non-
discriminatory basis, levy a specific charge on airport users for
the purpose of funding this assistance.

4. This
specific charge shall be reasonable, cost-related,
transparent and established by the managing body of the airport
in cooperation with airport users, through the Airport Users
Committee where one exists or any other appropriate entity. It
shall be shared among airport users in proportion to the total
number of all passengers that each carries to and from that
airport.

5. The managing body of an airport shall separate the accounts
of its activities relating to the assistance provided to disabled
persons and persons with reduced mobility from the accounts of
in accordance with current commercial
its other activities,
practice.

6. The managing body of an airport shall make available to
airport users, through the Airport Users Committee where one
exists or any other appropriate entity, as well as to the
enforcement body or bodies referred to in Article 14, an audited
annual overview of charges received and expenses made in
respect of
the assistance provided to disabled persons and
persons with reduced mobility.

Article 9

Quality standards for assistance

In the setting of such standards, full account shall be taken
2.
of
internationally recognised policies and codes of conduct
concerning facilitation of the transport of disabled persons or
persons with reduced mobility, notably the ECAC Code of Good
Conduct in Ground Handling for Persons with Reduced Mobility.

3. The managing body of an airport shall publish its quality
standards.

4. An air carrier and the managing body of an airport may
agree that, for the passengers whom that air carrier transports to
and from the airport, the managing body shall provide assistance
of a higher standard than the standards referred to in paragraph 1
or provide services additional to those specified in Annex I.

5.
For the purpose of funding either of these, the managing
body may levy a charge on the air carrier additional to that
referred to in Article 8(3), which shall be transparent, cost‑related
and established after consultation of the air carrier concerned.

Article 10

Assistance by air carriers

An air carrier shall provide the assistance specified in Annex II
without additional charge to a disabled person or person with
reduced mobility departing from, arriving at or
transiting
through an airport to which this Regulation applies provided
that the person in question fulfils the conditions set out in
Article 7(1), (2) and (4).

Article 11

Training

Air carriers and airport managing bodies shall:

(a)

(b)

(c)

ensure that all their personnel, including those employed by
any sub-contractor, providing direct assistance to disabled
persons and persons with reduced mobility have knowledge
the needs of persons having various
of how to meet
disabilities or mobility impairments;

provide disability-equality and disability-awareness training
to all their personnel working at the airport who deal
directly with the travelling public;

ensure that, upon recruitment, all new employees attend
receive
disability‑related training and that personnel
refresher training courses when appropriate.

Article 12

1. With the exception of airports whose annual traffic is less
than 150 000 commercial passenger movements, the managing
body shall set quality standards for the assistance specified in
Annex I and determine resource requirements for meeting them,
in cooperation with airport users, through the Airport Users
Committee where one exists, and organisations representing
disabled passengers and passengers with reduced mobility.

Compensation for lost or damaged wheelchairs, other
mobility equipment and assistive devices

Where wheelchairs or other mobility equipment or assistive
devices are lost or damaged whilst being handled at the airport or

26.7.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 204/7

the passenger to whom the
transported on board aircraft,
equipment belongs shall be compensated, in accordance with
rules of international, Community and national law.

Article 13

Exclusion of waiver

Obligations towards disabled persons and persons with reduced
mobility pursuant to this Regulation shall not be limited or
waived.

Article 14

Enforcement body and its tasks

Each Member State shall designate a body or bodies
1.
responsible for the enforcement of this Regulation as regards
flights departing from or arriving at airports situated in its
territory. Where appropriate, this body or bodies shall take the
measures necessary to ensure that the rights of disabled persons
and persons with reduced mobility are respected,
including
compliance with the quality standards referred to in Article 9(1).
The Member States shall inform the Commission of the body or
bodies designated.

2. Member States shall, where appropriate, provide that the
enforcement body or bodies designated under paragraph 1 shall
also ensure the satisfactory implementation of Article 8,
including as regards the provisions on charges with a view to
avoiding unfair competition. They may also designate a specific
body to that effect.

Article 15

Complaint procedure

1. A disabled person or person with reduced mobility who
considers that this Regulation has been infringed may bring the
matter to the attention of the managing body of the airport or to
the attention of the air carrier concerned, as the case may be.

2.
If the disabled person or person with reduced mobility
cannot obtain satisfaction in such way, complaints may be made
to any body or bodies designated under Article 14(1), or to any

other competent body designated by a Member State, about an
alleged infringement of this Regulation.

3. A body in one Member State which receives a complaint
concerning a matter that comes under the responsibility of a
designated body of another Member State shall forward the
complaint to the body of that other Member State.

4. The Member States shall take measures to inform disabled
persons and persons with reduced mobility of their rights under
to this
this Regulation and of
designated body or bodies.

the possibility of complaint

Article 16

Penalties

this Regulation and shall

The Member States shall lay down rules on penalties applicable
to infringements of
the
measures necessary to ensure that those rules are implemented.
The penalties provided for must be effective, proportionate and
dissuasive. The Member States shall notify those provisions to the
Commission and shall notify it without delay of any subsequent
amendment affecting them.

take all

Article 17

Report

The Commission shall report to the European Parliament and the
Council by 1 January 2010 at the latest on the operation and the
effects of this Regulation. The report shall be accompanied where
necessary by legislative proposals implementing in further detail
the provisions of this Regulation, or revising it.

Article 18

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following
that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

It shall apply with effect from 26 July 2008, except Articles 3
and 4, which shall apply with effect from 26 July 2007.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Strasbourg, 5 July 2006.

For the European Parliament
The President
J. BORRELL FONTELLES

The President
For the Council
P. LEHTOMÄKI

L 204/8

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

26.7.2006

ANNEX I

Assistance under the responsibility of the managing bodies of airports

Assistance and arrangements necessary to enable disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility to:

— communicate their arrival at an airport and their request for assistance at the designated points inside and outside

terminal buildings mentioned in Article 5,

— move from a designated point to the check-in counter,

— check-in and register baggage,

— proceed from the check-in counter to the aircraft, with completion of emigration, customs and security procedures,

— board the aircraft, with the provision of lifts, wheelchairs or other assistance needed, as appropriate,

— proceed from the aircraft door to their seats,

— store and retrieve baggage on the aircraft,

— proceed from their seats to the aircraft door,

— disembark from the aircraft, with the provision of lifts, wheelchairs or other assistance needed, as appropriate,

— proceed from the aircraft to the baggage hall and retrieve baggage, with completion of immigration and customs

procedures,

— proceed from the baggage hall to a designated point,

— reach connecting flights when in transit, with assistance on the air and land sides and within and between terminals as

needed,

— move to the toilet facilities if required.

Where a disabled person or person with reduced mobility is assisted by an accompanying person, this person must, if
requested, be allowed to provide the necessary assistance in the airport and with embarking and disembarking.

Ground handling of all necessary mobility equipment, including equipment such as electric wheelchairs subject to advance
warning of 48 hours and to possible limitations of space on board the aircraft, and subject to the application of relevant
legislation concerning dangerous goods.

Temporary replacement of damaged or lost mobility equipment, albeit not necessarily on a like‑for‑like basis.

Ground handling of recognised assistance dogs, when relevant.

Communication of information needed to take flights in accessible formats.

26.7.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 204/9

ANNEX II

Assistance by air carriers

Carriage of recognised assistance dogs in the cabin, subject to national regulations.

In addition to medical equipment, transport of up to two pieces of mobility equipment per disabled person or person with
reduced mobility, including electric wheelchairs (subject to advance warning of 48 hours and to possible limitations of space
on board the aircraft, and subject to the application of relevant legislation concerning dangerous goods.

Communication of essential information concerning a flight in accessible formats.

The making of all reasonable efforts to arrange seating to meet the needs of individuals with disability or reduced mobility
on request and subject to safety requirements and availability.

Assistance in moving to toilet facilities if required.

Where a disabled person or person with reduced mobility is assisted by an accompanying person, the air carrier will make
all reasonable efforts to give such person a seat next to the disabled person or person with reduced mobility.