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The main purpose of the Civil Aviation Authority's (CAA’s) enforcement role is to protect consumers and the public by encouraging compliance with rules applicable to civil aviation and to deter non-compliance.

As outlined in our Regulatory Enforcement Policy, some enforcement actions will be published, primarily to provide a transparent mechanism by which consumers and the public can be informed about the actions we have taken, and to provide a wider deterrent for non-compliance. The general principles for the types of actions we will publish are contained within the Appendix to the Policy.

Consumer enforcement action

The CAA has civil powers to take enforcement action in relation to a range of passenger rights legislation and general consumer law. These powers come from Part 8 of the Enterprise Act 2002, and the CAA can seek undertakings from businesses that require them to comply with the law. If undertakings are not provided, or are breached, the CAA can seek an Enforcement Order from the Court.

Our approach to prioritising our work is set out in our Prioritisation Principles.

We provide more detailed information on our consumer enforcement policy in our Guidance on Consumer Enforcement document.

Prosecutions

It is in the public interest that those who comply with aviation rules have confidence that those rules are enforced.

Prosecution is one means by which the CAA ensures that the aviation rules for which it is responsible are properly observed and appropriately enforced.

The CAA prosecutes both companies and individuals for breaches of the legislation it is tasked with enforcing. Investigations into alleged breaches of the law are carried out by the Investigations & Enforcement Team, in accordance with our Code of Practice.

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