The Senate referred questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union for a preliminary ruling and suspended proceedings in an administrative case concerning the Civil Aviation Agency's one-year ban on the applicant from retaking the skill test for obtaining a private pilot licence.

The applicant applied to the Civil Aviation Agency for obtaining a private pilot licence. Upon verification of the information received, the Agency established that the training flights had not been carried out as reflected in the flight book. In view of the findings, the Agency not only annulled the results of the skill test, but also banned the person from retaking the test and obtaining a private pilot licence for one year. The applicant considered that the Agency was not entitled to impose such a prohibition and therefore brought an action before the administrative court.

The Senate indicated that not only Latvian law but also European Union law was applicable to the case. The regulations pertaining to a matter in question do not specifically stipulate what consequences arise if an applicant, when taking a skill test, has provided the examiner with false information about his training and flight experience, i.e. fraudulently seeking to obtain a private pilot licence.

On the one hand, the national competent authority is empowered by the regulations to impose the necessary restrictions to prevent discrepancies and to achieve the objective of ensuring the safety of civil aviation. On the other hand, there are doubts as to how the provision of the regulation applicable in the present case is to be interpreted in the absence of a specific fixed-term prohibition in national legislation on the taking of a skill test for a private pilot licence.

A fixed-term prohibition on taking the skill test for a private pilot licence is a restriction on the applicant's rights which, in accordance with the principle of legal certainty and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, must be expressly laid down in legislation. In the present case, there are doubts as to whether there are sufficient legal grounds to impose a fixed-term prohibition on the applicant to take the skill test for a private pilot licence. At the same time, the principle of prohibiting abusive practices precludes a person from obtaining, by fraudulent conduct, an advantage or benefit conferred by European Union law. In the present case, the objective of the regulations relating to the area of ​​dispute – ensuring of a high level of civil aviation safety – is also relevant.

In order to verify whether the national competent authority in the case under consideration has correctly and in accordance with the objectives of European Union law imposed a fixed-term prohibition on the applicant to take a skill test for the purpose of obtaining a private pilot licence, it is necessary to interpret the provisions of European Union law applied in the case.

Decision of the Senate of 12 December 2024 in case No SKA-28/2024 (A420203719)

 

Ilze Butkus, Communication adviser of the Supreme Court

Telephone: +371 67020302; e-mail: ilze.butkus@at.gov.lv