Final rule · 2026-13295

Procedures in Regulating and Enforcing Unfair or Deceptive Practices

The U.S. Department of Transportation (Department or DOT) is amending its regulations regarding the hearing procedures available when the Department proposes a discretionary aviation consumer protection rulemaking declaring a practice to be unfair or deceptive. This final rule revises the hearing procedures established in 2022 to align them with the more robust due process protections originally set forth in 2020, ensuring the use of neutral hearing officers and the issuance of formal findings of fact. Further, this rule rescinds the 2023 Clarification of Formal Enforcement Procedures, which specified that the Department is not limited to administrative proceedings before an Administrative Law Judge, but may also initiate civil enforcement actions in United States District Court. The Department now finds this clarification unnecessary and redundant because its authority to seek judicial enforcement is established clearly by statute.