On the eve of a meeting of 27 national enforcement agencies and stakeholder groups in Brussels, European Commission (EC) Vice President and EU Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani and European Consumer Commissioner Meglena Kouneva have stepped up pressure on airline companies selling tickets on the web to meet their legal obligation to fully comply with all the requirements of EU law.

In a statement, the EC said that in a joint letter to airline representatives, the two commissioners had set out a 30-point checklist of consumer rights that all web pages selling air tickets must respect.

Following industry feedback, the checklist will be consolidated.

The EC letter requests that members of the airline associations amend all websites to ensure they fully comply with all the obligations on the list.

A user-friendly version of the checklist should also be made available on websites for consumers.

The letter informs the airline representatives that the EC intends to make public the results of "health check" of the sector, an independent study which will identify compliant and non-compliant operators, in May 2009.

The engagement with the industry is taking place in parallel with additional efforts by the EC to increase enforcement controls at national level.

Kouneva addressed ministers at the Competition Council on December 1 2008, calling on them to concentrate all the necessary additional efforts and resources on the airline investigation to enable a final wrap up in May 2009.

The EC said that the letter from Tajani and Kouneva made it clear that if national authorities persistently failed to act against violations of the law, the EC would need to consider infringement procedures.

"My message to the airline industry is very clear, full compliance with EU law is an obligation, not an option," Kouneva said.

"The patience of consumers across the EU is wearing thin. Sixty per cent of websites with irregularities have now been corrected as a result of our EU investigation which is ongoing since September 2007. But there are still too many consumer complaints about hidden charges and fees, and too many cases where pricing is not clear," she said.

Kouneva said that the EC was "going the extra mile" to help the airline industry put its own house in order.

"But in May 2009, we intend to call time and publish our own compliance report on the sector," she said.

Tajani said that thanks to EU law, all passengers must have fully transparent access to the real price to pay.

"This is a big step ahead which allows passengers to compare the prices and choose their carrier on an informed basis. We count on the co-operation of airlines to secure the protection of their consumers: it is in their advantage to guarantee the best quality of services and a fair competition," he said.

The EC said that more than 700 million air tickets are sold every year in the EU.

"These sales are highly digitalised but it is clear that the rights of consumers buying such tickets online are still not secure since the EC continues to receive many complaints about air ticket selling websites."

Two major pieces of European legislation improving air passengers' rights have come into force recently, the Directive on Unfair Commercial Practices and the Air Services Regulation.

These two new measures create what the EC called a "clear and straightforward" legal framework for business operators selling air tickets.

 Final price indications including all unavoidable and foreseeable charges and fees must be shown from the beginning, customers must be fully informed of payable charges; all optional charges must be offered on an "opt in" basis.

The air fare should be granted without any discrimination based on nationality or place of residence of the consumer or the geographical location of the travel agent.

All the steps must be clearly indicated so that the customer is fully aware of when the transaction is finalised and on how much s/he is paying.

The language used in advertising and pricing must be maintained throughout the selling process.

The number of special offers available must be indicated, as should the period of availability from the beginning of the booking process.

Any statements about free tickets must represent getting a valid ticket without any payment of any kind; this also applies to the frequent flyers programmes.

Meanwhile, the EC has announced that European Ombudsman, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, has opened an investigation into whether the EC is fulfilling its responsibility to ensure that EU rules on air passenger rights are properly applied in the member states.

This follows a complaint from a German traveller, whose Air France flight was cancelled. In autumn 2007, the German traveller wanted to return from Madagascar to Germany, via Paris. However, the connecting Air France flight was cancelled because of a strike and he had to organise his own trip back. He alleged that he got no assistance or compensation from Air France and that the responsible French supervisory body also failed to help him.

The complainant turned to the EC but was not satisfied with its response.

In his complaint to the Ombudsman, the German citizen alleges that the EC is failing to ensure that EU member states are properly applying the rules on compensation and assistance to passengers, in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights.

The Ombudsman has asked the EC to provide its opinion by February 28 2009.