DOT PROPOSES NEW RULEMAKING ON FORMAL HEARING PROCEDURES
December 10, 2025
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On October 30, 2025, the Department issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking to increase transparency and due process rights for regulated entities during aviation consumer protection actions under 49 U.S.C. 41712. To provide carriers and ticket agents with sufficient notice and an opportunity to be heard before DOT declares a specific practice to be unfair or deceptive, the NPRM seeks to unwind two Biden era initiatives that provided DOT officials with overly broad discretion when granting and overseeing hearing requests. The rulemaking proposal, if finalized, would provide U.S. and foreign air carriers greater procedural protections during enforcement actions. DOT seeks comments on the following topics, among others:
- Factors to consider when DOT’s General Counsel determines whether to grant or deny hearing petitions from regulated entities;
- Consolidation of duplicative provisions concerning definitions of “unfair” and “deceptive” into one regulation; and
- Rescission of former Biden administration guidance which the Department now considers unnecessary.
- Comments on this NPRM are due no later than December 1, 2025.
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