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Ryanair does not have to pay the HUF 300 million (EUR 770,689) fine imposed by the Government Office of Budapest, the Curia (Supreme Court of Hungary) issued a final decision in the extra profit tax dispute on January 24, 2024. The case is summarized by Turizmus.com‘s tourism and travel law adviser.
In the summer of 2022, the government decree on extra profit taxes entered into force, under which Ryanair was obliged to pay a tax of HUF 3,900 (EUR 10) for each passenger on flights departing from the first day of July 2022.
The airline had informed its passengers by e-mail that under the legislation, for bookings already made for flights departing on or after July 1, 2022, the amount of tax due would be charged to the card used to make the booking. Passengers who did not wish to accept this tax were able to cancel their booking and receive a full refund. The airline also mentioned in its information note certain points of its General Terms and Conditions (T&C).
The Government Office of the Capital City Budapest learned of the airline’s actions from an article published on the news portal, Telex.hu, on June 9, 2022 and
launched an ex officio consumer protection procedure, which resulted in a fine of HUF 300 million.
Ryanair, however, did not accept the decision and used its legal options to take action against the Government Office.
The Irish low-cost airline argued that the Government Office had erred in its decision because it had exceeded its powers and had in fact ruled on a matter which can only be decided by a court.
The Budapest-Capital Regional Court annulled the decision of the Government Office in its judgment made at the end of May 2023, so the airline did not have to pay the fine. The court agreed that the Government Office had examined the General Terms and Conditions from a point of view that only a court can do. In Hungary, it is possible to appeal against a judgment of the Regional Court to a higher forum, hence the Government Office took advantage of this possibility and appealed to the Curia.
However, the decision of the Curia of January 24, 2024 confirmed the decision of the Budapest-Capital Regional Court, as it found, inter alia,
that the Government Office could not have examined the legality of the provision in the T&Cs under which the airline passed the tax on to the passengers
and that “the applicant (i.e. Ryanair as the taxable entity) acted in accordance with the Terms and Conditions and therefore there was no misleading of consumers.”
Via Turizmus.com; Featured image via Facebook/Ryanair