Article 19 — Complaint-handling and access to justice

1. Natural or legal persons regarded under national law as having sufficient interest or those that consider that their rights were impaired shall be entitled to submit substantiated complaints to competent authorities where they deem, on the basis of objective circumstances, that an economic operator, EU carrier, non-EU carrier, or a shipper, or an operator, agent or master of a seagoing vessel is failing to comply with this Regulation. For the purposes of the first subparagraph, non-governmental entities or organisations promoting the protection of human health or the environment or those promoting consumer protection and meeting any requirements under national law shall be deemed to have sufficient interest. 2. Competent authorities shall assess substantiated complaints as referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article and, where appropriate, take the steps necessary to verify such complaints, including inspections and hearings of the person or organisation. Where the complaint is found to be grounded, the competent authorities shall take the necessary actions in accordance with Article 5(3), Article 14(2) and Article 15(2). 3. Competent authorities shall, as soon as possible, inform the persons referred to in paragraph 1 that submitted the complaint of their decision to accede to or refuse the request for action put forward in the complaint and shall provide the reasons for it. 4. Member States shall ensure that a person referred to in paragraph 1 has access to a court or another independent and impartial public body competent to review the procedural and substantive legality of the competent authority’s decisions, acts or failure to act under this Regulation, without prejudice to any provisions of national law which require that administrative review procedures be exhausted prior to recourse to judicial proceedings. Those review procedures shall be fair, equitable, timely and not prohibitively expensive, and shall provide adequate and effective remedies, including injunctive relief where necessary. 5. Member States shall ensure that practical information is made available to the public on access to the administrative and judicial review procedures referred to in this Article.